Taken By Lust (2 page)

Instead he enjoyed his profession, and now things were going to get even more interesting. He knew that he’d just found his mate. He’d been captivated from the moment he’d seen her reddish hair framing her warm brown skin. He wondered what she’d look like spread naked and wet over his bed sheets.

Tonight he intended to find out.

She’d felt the connection to him as well. He saw it in the quickening of the pulse in her neck, smelled it in the scent of her desire as her pussy moistened and readied itself for him. He’d never thought he’d find his mate. Her hazel eyes made her look like one of his kind, but he knew she wasn’t a shifter. The problem of her humanity had only given him a moment’s pause. He’d have to be careful with her, his strength in the bedroom could hurt her if he wasn’t careful, but he would enjoy learning her.

“The ladies are coming back,” Connor said. His voice was smooth but had an underlying growl in it. If Pietr had been paying attention to anything but the delectable shape of his mate he may have picked up on the werewolf’s scent. He did now.

“Is she yours?” he asked. Connor turned to him with a wicked grin that could only be described as wolfish.

“Yes,” he said. William looked at them both but didn’t say anything. He was human and wouldn’t understand the importance of their conversation.

“Happy hunting,” Pietr offered.

“You as well,” Connor answered as Maddy and Sasha returned. His Selene was quite obviously not at their side. The women must have realized it too because they frowned.

“Selene didn’t come back over here?” Maddy asked, stepping up to Connor. The wolf wrapped his arms around her possessively.

“No,” William said, his smile quick and easy as he pulled Sasha to his side. Pietr couldn’t smell any deception in him so he didn’t bother him. These women were obviously close to his mate so he couldn’t have one being hurt by some callous man. Maddy, he knew, would be just fine.

He turned and scanned the crowd before taking a deep breath. He stood straighter, not picking up the scent of his mate as strong as he was before. Connor shifted beside Maddy, lifting his nose slightly into the air. When he looked at Pietr over the head of his mate he shook his head. Somehow she had escaped.

“Maybe she went to the bathroom?” William asked, stepping away for a second to look over the crowds.

“Perhaps,” Pietr said, though he knew that she hadn’t. He was already moving away from the bar when Maddy stopped him with a small hand on his arm.

“Here’s her number. If I know my friend she’s running scared,” she said, slipping him a napkin. Pietr accepted it and slid it into his pocket even as he was walking away.

“She won’t get far,” he promised to no one in particular as he strode through the crowd. His preternatural aura made it so that without realizing it people parted for him as he passed.

He was at the door in a matter of minutes and calling the valet as he exited. He waited impatiently for his car to arrive on the curb. Selene couldn’t run from him. Not now. Mates didn’t run from each other. They were meant for each other, two halves of a whole, and Pietr had lived long enough to know that was something rare indeed. Shifters were not immortal like some of the other things that went bump in the night. They simply lived much longer than humans because of their regenerating powers. It was hard for something to die when it could just heal itself. The regenerative powers did begin to slow as they got older, much older, and they could die of old age, but their version of old age could be counted in a few centuries instead of just short of one. He scented the air again, smelling his mate as far as the street and then losing her trail. She had gotten into a car. No matter, he’d find her soon enough.

As his Ferrari FF pulled up to the curb he was already pulling out his phone. Leopards may be solitary animals in the wild, but shifters were not. It was one of the reasons that he’d purchased the FF. It was rare in the world of sports cars to have one that was a four seater whose back seats could fold down to produce more trunk space, but he’d acquired one. When he had to administer medical aid to his leap, the pack of leopards Pietr belonged to, he had a vehicle that could transport them, and get them anywhere, fast. He slid into the driver’s seat and quickly dialed Cirro’s number.

“Cirro,” his friend said after just one ring.

“Cirro, I need you to do something for me,” Pietr said without preamble. Cirro was the leap’s resident security personnel, hacker, weapons expert, and Pietr’s best friend. Sometimes it paid to be connected.

“The last time I helped you they threatened to suspend me for a month without pay,” Cirro groaned.

“Then they realized they didn’t know who would protect the
Vasilias
and his
Vasiliassa
, and they decided just to frown really hard at you.”

“Pietr, I think it was more that you are his brother and
Vita
, than because of who I am. Being second-in-command has its perks.”

“Yes, but being my second and
Asfaleia
protects you enough.”

“You’ve sweet talked me enough, Pietr. Who do you want me to find?”

“You know me so well my friend. I need you to reverse look-up a number.”

“Is this person dangerous?” Cirro asked and Pietr could hear the change in his friend’s voice as if a switch had been thrown. He was no longer smiling and Pietr could almost see his blue eyes going glacier in his tanned face. When he heard noise on the other end of the phone he knew his friend had run his hand through his short tawny locks, a nervous habit he had since they were kids. Cirro was a good Asfaleia, or protector, of their leap.

“It is my mate, Cirro.”

“Your mate? You’re shitting me?”

“I wouldn’t play about this. I think she fears the bond. She felt it but she ran.”

“Human then,” Cirro commented.

“It seems to be an ongoing phenomenon.”

“There aren’t many female leopards being born. At this rate we’ll have more human mates than anything. Unless we okay it for humans to be changed we won’t have many pureblood children in the future.”

“Humans can die during the change. You know that, Cirro.”

“Can you deal with the idea that you will only have your mate for the remainder of her natural life? That she will sicken and die as you live on without her for centuries?”

Pietr sighed, he didn’t want to think about that. Turning a human was anathema to his kind. To do so carried a death sentence with no questions asked. Of course he didn’t want to see his mate die. It would kill something in him to see it, but his mate was human. His brother Laius was the wereleopard king and Pietr was his second. He could not break those laws even if he wished it, though he didn’t. It wasn’t something he could think about. He would simply cross that bridge when he got there.

“Cirro, Cirro, Cirro. Only you could attempt to ruin the greatest night of my century-long life. Who knows, by time she is ready to go it just may be my time.”

“I am sorry my friend, but I deal in reality. We both know that you are Vasilias material if you wanted to be. You will live many years yet.”

“Cirro, get me the damn address before I lose my temper.”

“I have it already. Just wanted to get that out.” Cirro gave him the address attached to the number. Pietr didn’t say anything as he hung up.

Cirro had made his point. It was a valid one, but Pietr didn’t want to think of the end before they’d even had a chance to live. That was Cirro’s cross to deal with. Cirro’s greatest fear was that he would find a human for a mate. It was one of the reasons he barely left leap grounds. He was given a salary for his work and didn’t have to work outside the compound unless he chose to. None of them had to work, really. Many wereleopards made astounding amounts of money through their long lives and they passed on the wealth they’d acquired to their descendants. The Asfaleia was always protected and cared for by the leap, though. As the head of security the Asfaleia duty was to protect the Vasilias and Vasiliassa with their lives. Because of their potential sacrifice the leap made sure they wanted for nothing and had a team under them to assist in protection. Cirro hid within the leap, terrified of an end that was years away. Pietr didn’t want to be that man.

He punched the address into his navigation system and merged into traffic. He was not Cirro. He was a man who knew what he wanted and was willing to go after it. Selene had found herself at the top of the list and running scared was not going to change that. All it did was make the predator in him happy about the chance to hunt. The endgame was already determined by fate, but the road to that conclusion was theirs to choose. He was happy that she didn’t realize that quick capitulation would have marred their union. She’d done the one thing that would guarantee his undivided attention: she denied him. Such a wondrous thing to have a mate and have to give chase. He knew his eyes were reflecting the light around him as he drove, the pupils dilating until his silver eyes became rimmed black pools, allowing him to see the night.

He would catch her. Of that he was certain. And when he did he would never let her go. Selene couldn’t run far enough to escape him. Not in a million years.

Chapter Three

Selene relaxed into her seat as the cab drove her home. She lived about twenty minutes from the club but she hadn’t wanted to risk trying to call one of her friends to let her take their car or take her home. They would have tried to convince her to stay, or, even worse, sent Pietr out to give her a ride. Her friends, God love them, meant well but they didn’t understand the word
no
very well. They felt like she cloistered herself behind the walls of her job too much. Maybe they were right, but she just couldn’t relax. It was like she was waiting for something, someone, who was just around the bend. She could feel him on the edge of the horizon. She didn’t know how to explain it but this last year had been a study of self-love and realization. She’d grown up and now she knew what she wanted. She wanted passion, lust, love, need, companionship, and friendship. It was easy enough to find passion, lust, and even companionship. But it was need, true need, and love she was striking out on. She wanted the whole thing. She needed the whole thing. Tonight she had felt need. Lord knows she had.

Pietr had stormed her defenses without even trying. All he had to do was look at her and she had been lost. She could still see his vapor eyes, still feel the heat of his body against hers, and smell his scent on her body. Lust and need had blended until she was at a loss for words. She’d never been so taken by a man. His touch had electrified her, his gaze made her feel sexy, and his voice had made her wet. But lust and need weren’t enough. To meet someone under those circumstances meant that they would have bypassed getting to know each other to gain companionship and then love. It would have been a fling, and perhaps that was what terrified her. Pietr touched her in a way that she hadn’t been expecting. If all it turned into was a fling she was sure that something in her would have died. She just knew that any man who came after him would have paled in comparison. She couldn’t risk that. She couldn’t. She sighed, trying to push away her desire as the cab continued toward her home.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” the cab driver asked. He looked young, his sable hair cut almost military short. His chestnut gaze met hers in his rearview mirror from a face that looked barely out of his mid-twenties.

“I’m fine, it’s been a long night.”

“Looks like it. I know a short cut to your address. I can get you there ten minutes faster if you want me to take that.”

“That would be great,” Selene said with another heartfelt sigh.

She was tired. The cabbie turned down the next street, one she didn’t recognize but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t know all the streets in the city and a cabbie would. The cabbie turned again down a road that was darker and she sat up in her seat. There wasn’t much traffic on this street. She slid off her heel. There weren’t many places to hide a weapon in this dress but a steel-heeled stiletto would work. The cabbie turned down another street and they pulled back into traffic. She sat back feeling much more comfortable until a loud pop, a swerve, and they rolled back to the deserted street.

“Hold on, ma’am. Let me check the tire and then I’ll call Hub to get you another ride.”

The cabbie parked the car and got out before she could say anything. When he unfolded from the car he was taller than she expected. He would have been able to look over her head slightly. He wore jeans and a black sweater. He knelt down next to the back tire on her side and disappeared from her view.

“It can’t be helped,” he called to her.

“I can wait. It wasn’t your fault. I can wait for the next cabbie.”

“You could. Or…” He trailed off and she sat up straighter to talk to him.

“Or what?”

“This.” Faster than humanly possible the door was wrenched open and the cabbie crawled into the car. He didn’t look right. His young face was changing, melting. She didn’t know how else to explain it. The skin on his cheeks looked as if his cheekbones had disappeared. The skin hung down and started to split. She saw blood and fur. She could hear his flesh ripping and screamed. As quick as she could draw breath she screamed. He was so strong. She couldn’t get him to let go of her. She felt faint when his fingers extended and twisted until they were long, knobby things that didn’t look like they were real. The ends were tipped in thick black claws. Claws.

She screamed louder, punching at him, clawing at his skin. Under her nails the skins came off in clumps until he was covered in fur and his face was a demon come to life. Terror nearly stopped her from screaming but when he lifted up and she could see that a part of his anatomy was still very much human male she no longer had that problem.

“No!” she yelled, kicking and twisting.

“No one is going to save you,” he growled at her. His claws raked down the front of her dress and split the material like it was paper. She didn’t stop pelting him with blows to cover herself. If she gave up he would take more from her than her modesty. She clawed at his face, trying to find some weakness. When she felt his eye she dug her fingers in, feeling the orb pop and then the gush of fluids around her digits. Bile rose in her throat but she kept pushing. The demon roared, pulling back from her, but she held on.