Wild Cat

CHAPTER TEN

Cassidy ran after Diego as he stormed down the back hall. As soon as they hit the club, he swung on her, his eyes glittering with rage.

“What crazy, fucked-up thing was that about?” he demanded.

“Diego.” Cassidy reached for him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xavier start for them. Diego shook his head at him, warning him off. Xavier nodded once, took Lindsay’s hand, and led her to the dance floor.

Diego took Cassidy’s hand and turned it palm up. The slashes she’d made had already closed. Shifters healed quickly. “Trust me,” she said. “It was necessary.”

“Let me understand. If I do anything Eric considers a betrayal-to you or to him, or to any Shifter-he thinks he can kill you for it?”

“It won’t come to that,” Cassidy said. “The Shifters will know I wouldn’t make a pledge lightly. But what you had with Shane was just a taste. If I don’t protect you, you’ll have dominance fight after dominance fight with every Shifter you meet. Some harmless, some violent.”

“Damn it, Cassidy, Shifters can’t touch me, no matter what kind of dominance fights you think they’ll start. They’ll be arrested if they even try. I could haul off Shane for what he’s done, and he’d be locked up forever, if they didn’t terminate him.”

“Instinct doesn’t always listen to reason, Diego. If Eric lets me do this, then he’s essentially saying he backs me up. Shifters will know to leave you alone.”

“Eric’s word is nothing. He can’t kill you. He’d be executed-fast. He has to know that, and the Shifters do too.”

Cassidy kept shaking her head, knowing Diego couldn’t understand. “Eric is my pride leader and my clan leader. His word is law to me.”

“No, it isn’t. Even my word isn’t law-I just enforce what’s on the books. If Eric touches you, he’ll be arrested and executed before he knows what hit him. They’d make a special example of him, since he’s your Shiftertown leader.”

“That doesn’t matter. Eric will honor the pledge.” Cassidy stepped closer to Diego and put her hand on his shoulder. She caressed, loving the hard muscle beneath his coat. “You were willing to vouch for me when your Shifter Division wanted to lock me up and not let me out. It’s only fitting that I return the favor.”

Diego lifted the hand she’d cut to his lips. “Not the same thing, Cass.”

“Isn’t it? What would have happened if I’d been arrested again? To you, I mean.”

Diego shrugged. “Mark in my file. Disciplinary action, maybe. Suspension, depending on what it was you did. But Captain Max wouldn’t shoot me for it.”

“You did it because you decided to trust me.”

Diego leaned to her, smelling good despite his brush with Fae-something she and Eric still needed to figure out. “And then you ran off again.”

“I did what I needed to do, then I was finished. You’d never have known I’d gone if you hadn’t popped up that evening. I wouldn’t have betrayed you. And I believe you won’t betray me.”

“That’s a lot of faith.”

“I know.” Cassidy put her other hand behind his neck. “Because of you, I can dance tonight in the club, celebrate with my family.”

She wanted to touch him. The need to be near this man was driving her insane. Diego stirred every protective instinct she had and every mating instinct too. Maybe the crazy protective urge was because of Donovan. She hadn’t been able to protect her mate, when she should have. She refused to let Diego die on her watch as well.

Cassidy also wanted the Fae scent off him. Other Shifters here would worry about it, even though Eric would warn them off confronting Diego. She believed Diego when he said he hadn’t encountered any Fae, to his knowledge. His confusion had been genuine.

She lifted herself up on tiptoe and spoke into his ear. “Dance with me.”

Diego’s eyes went soft. He lifted her hand to his lips again and led her to the dance floor.

The music was wild and rocking. Groupies were dancing with Shifters, Lindsay twirling herself around Xav. Xavier was a good dancer, body relaxing as he let himself enjoy it.

Diego tugged Cassidy toward a more deserted corner of the floor. She turned to him, put one arm around his waist, and rested her unhurt hand on his shoulder.

There was a slow beat in the music underneath the fast one, and Cassidy started to sway to it. Diego caught on and stepped into the dance with her.

He knew how to dance, this man, knew how to move his body with controlled power. He guided Cassidy in slow circles around the rapidly gyrating couples in the darkness. Those around them danced to the rapid beat; Diego and Cassidy swayed together in their own rhythm.

Cassidy touched Diego’s face, his jaw rough with dark whiskers. She came against him, resting her head against his cheek, letting her own scent mark him and erase the stink of Faerie from his skin.

Around and around they stepped, in slow, sensual rhythm. Diego’s hands rested protectively on her hips. Cassidy lifted her head, and Diego looked down at her with sin-dark eyes. She kissed him.

Diego’s hot, firm lips moved under hers, but he wouldn’t open to her. He broke the kiss when she tried again.

“Not here,” he said.

He stirred the challenge in her. Cassidy wrapped both arms around his neck. “Where then?”

“How about if I drive you home? You can explain more to me about these Fae on the way.”

Cassidy smiled up into his face. “Let’s finish the dance, first.”

“Happy to, mi ja.”

Cassidy put her arms all the way around him, feeling his body move in liquid grace. Across the dance floor, Lindsay grinned and gave Cassidy a thumbs-up behind Xav’s back. Cassidy smiled at her and rested her head on Diego’s shoulder.

Eric watched Cassidy and Diego for a time, happy that his sister had found someone to draw her out of her grief, and at the same time worried as hell. Diego was human, which brought with it a bucketful of issues. Shane trying to challenge him was the least of it.

Cassidy’s pledge meant that the rest of the Shifters would leave Diego and Cassidy alone for now, which meant Eric could turn his attention to the other person in the club who was distracting him tonight.

A young woman sat by herself in the shadows at the back of the club. She’d come in with friends, but they’d soon deserted her to dance. She’d waved her friends off, telling them to enjoy themselves, while she remained alone at their table, sipping a drink.

She had dark hair and wore a slim blue dress, nothing too sexy-a woman determined not to draw attention to herself. Wasn’t working. She had thick dark hair that a male would enjoy under his hands, a fine-boned face, strong limbs, and a sexy shape her dress couldn’t hide. Her slender neck was bare of any Collar-real or Shifter-groupie fake.

She’d made sure not to get too near any Shifters; Eric had watched her making sure. Even now, she pretended not to see Eric leaving Shane to walk toward her, as though Eric would ignore her if she ignored him.

But what she was screamed itself at Eric. Eric needed to talk to her before any other Shifter noticed her.

She didn’t look up at him, didn’t react at all until Eric dropped into the chair next to her. “Who are you?” he asked.

She pretended to ignore him as she picked up her drink. Her eyes were deep blue, Scottish blue, like a loch in the summertime. She was sensual, beautiful, and very out of place. What this flower of the Highlands was doing in a seedy bar in the back streets of Las Vegas, Eric had no idea. But he would find out.

Eric leaned forward and rested his arms on the table, blocking the view of her from everyone else in the club. “What are you doing in here?” he asked.

The woman set down her drink and poked the slush of it with her straw. “It’s a club. What do you think I’m doing here? I dance, I drink.”

“You’ve been sitting here since you came in, trying not to be seen. Who talked you into coming? Or do you enjoy walking the edge?”

She flashed him a glance, then returned her gaze to her drink. “It’s my friend’s birthday.”

“And she wanted to hang out with Shifters?”

“She’s fascinated by them.” Another glance, this one trying to be dismissive. “Can’t think why.”

“I take it your friend doesn’t know that if she wants to see a Shifter, she doesn’t have to look any further than you?”

The woman froze. Her blue eyes flickered the tiniest bit to Shifter before she caught herself and forced them back to human. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Eric reached to touch her throat. “How did you avoid it? The Collar, I mean.”

She pulled back. “Get away from me, or I’ll scream for the bouncer. I’m not kidding.”

“The bouncer tonight is Brody,” Eric said. “He’s a Shifter-one of my trackers, in fact. He’ll do what I tell him.”

“Please, just go away.”

Eric caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “This is my territory, sweetheart. Every Shifter in this city is under my jurisdiction. That makes you one of mine. Mine to decide what to do with.”

The woman jerked away. “Arrogant bastard.”

“That’s what my sister calls me. And she’s right. But I’m still leader, and you’re Feline.” Eric drew in her scent. “A Feline female who’s hit her mating years.”

Her sudden, deep blush confirmed it.

Not that it wasn’t obvious. Her mating need had smacked Eric’s nose as soon as he’d clued in on her. His senses were a little more honed than those of other Shifters, but if any other Shifter male smelled her, she might not make it out the door. Females were too rare not to try for, and one alone, without pride, clan, or protection, would be fair game.

“I’m human,” she said in a hard voice.

“You’re Shifter, or at least half Shifter, passing for a human,” Eric said. “Who sired you?”

Her flush deepened. “I don’t know.”

That could be true. Before the Collar, some Shifters hadn’t been too choosy about where they dropped their seed. Probably more half breeds existed than humans knew about.

Eric leaned in. “My advice? Get the hell out of this club and don’t come back. You’re lucky I spotted you first. If any of the Shifters in here smell you-unclaimed, unmated, unprotected-I might not be able to stop them.”

Her eyes sparkled with anger through her fear. Good. The humans hadn’t cowed every bit of Shifter spirit out of her.

Eric touched the hollow of her throat, where the Celtic knot of her Collar would go. “You know what I could do, by rights? Claim you, take you home with me, snap a Collar on you, and confine you for endangering all Shifters. Make you mine in all ways.”

The fear returned. Eric traced her throat, trying to soothe her, trying to make her understand her danger. And that he would protect her from all danger.

He liked that her throat was bare, though. Knowing she was free made his heart sing.

But how long could she last before the humans figured out what she was? She’d be exposed, arrested, maybe killed. Or, if another Shifter male found her, she could be taken and claimed by him. By not being raised Shifter, she wouldn’t know how to resist, or even that, by Shifter law, she could.

She sat still, fury and fear mixed in her eyes. Her beautiful, beautiful blue eyes.

Eric leaned closer still. He inhaled her scent and exhaled his own onto her. His mark. He nuzzled her cheek, breathing softly on her skin.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, but she didn’t shrink away.

“Helping you.”

“How is sniffing me helping me?”

Eric sat up. She smelled good, and now her scent was on him, and his on hers. “I scent-marked you. If other Shifter males try to go for you, they’ll scent me and back off.” In theory. It would be more difficult to protect her when she lived outside Shiftertown, but the scent mark would make whatever male tried to mate-claim her hesitate, giving her time to escape.

“Scent-marked? What the hell does that mean?”

Eric ignored the question. “When you decide you want to come in, you find me,” he said. “I’ll make it as painless for you as possible. Understand?”

“Understand me. I don’t want to have anything to do with Shifters. Ever.”

Eric put his hand on her arm. Her skin was soft, the bones fragile but still strong. Shifter strong. “You didn’t choose this, I know. But you’re Shifter, and you’re stuck with it. You’re going to need me.”

“I don’t even know who you are.”

“Yes, you do,” Eric said.

Her two friends came giggling back. They stared in delighted awe as Eric stood up, six feet six, tattoos, Collar, and all.

“Iona,” one of her friends said. “You work fast. Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“No,” Iona said.

Eric flashed a smile at the two women. “Eric Warden. Next round’s on me. Except for Iona. She’s leaving.”

The friends looked excitedly curious, Iona angry.

Eric took Iona’s hand and pulled her from her seat. Now the friends looked envious.

Iona glared at Eric, but she chose to be smart. She followed him without fighting him around the edge of the dance floor, Eric avoiding all Shifters.

Jace, at the bar, looked their way, but at Eric’s slight shake of head, Jace went back to flirting with a Lupine who laughed at him from his other side. Jace would question, and Eric faced the possibility of having to lie to his own son. If even a breath of Iona’s existence got out, she would be in grave danger.

Eric guided Iona out the back door to the cool of the parking lot. “Where’s your car?” he asked.

Iona tried to pull away, but Eric’s grip was unshakable. “My friends won’t have a ride if I leave.”

“I’ll make sure they get home. Where?”

Iona heaved a sigh, which lifted her chest under the nondescript dress. Eric wanted to peel off that dress and find out what was underneath.

Iona led him to a small red pickup, an almost cute truck. She fumbled with the keys. Eric took them from her and unlocked the door. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Nothing. My margaritas were virgin. I’m designated driver.”

“Good.” Eric opened the door and put his hand under her elbow to lift her inside. The simple touch stirred fires in him, stoking embers he’d thought had long ago turned to ash. He gave her the keys and shut the door. “Go home. Stay away from Shifters and out of Shifter bars if you want to keep passing for human.”

“You think?”

Without thanking him for not telling every Shifter in the bar that an unmated, unprotected female sat in their midst, Iona shot him an annoyed look, started the truck, and backed out of the parking space.

One final glare as she straightened the truck, then Iona gunned the engine. Red taillights flashed as she turned from the entrance, and then she was gone.

Eric was left alone in the dark parking lot, breathing in exhaust and dust.

“Iona,” Eric whispered. The name tasted good in his mouth.

Iona.

He’d see her again. He’d make sure of it.

Diego watched Eric leave the club with the woman in blue, Eric leaning in very protectively to her.

“Who was that?” Diego asked Cassidy.

Cassidy was looking too, curiosity on her face. “I have no idea.”

The music segued into the next song, also fast-paced. Whatever happened to slow dancing? “Want to get out of here?” Diego asked her.

Cassidy smiled up at him and touched his lips. “I think so.” She kept smiling as Diego put his arm around her, resting his hand on her curved hip. “You’ve seen where I live,” Cassidy said. “Now that I’m off probation, how about showing me where you live?”

Diego’s heart beat faster. He could take her home, slide her out of that clingy white dress, run his hand down those long legs…

He thought about Captain Max’s warning, but at the moment, Diego didn’t care. He just knew that Cassidy was tall and sexy and warm against his side. His own business who he saw off duty.

Xavier was still with Lindsay, still dancing, Xavier laughing and having a good time, as usual. Diego knew Xav would be all right, though. His brother knew how far to go and when to stop.

The parking lot was well lit, but there was no sign of Eric when they ducked outside. Brody, acting as bouncer, gave them a nod. He watched Diego sharply, likely having heard every word of what had gone on in the back room by now. But he said nothing and didn’t try to stop them.

Diego’s T-Bird waited in the middle of the parking lot. Shifters’ cars, older but well kept, were parked in one defined area, while the human cars, mostly new, mostly expensive, sprawled everywhere else.

Diego unlocked the car. Cassidy got inside, slid off her shoes, and put her feet on the seat while Diego went around to get in on the driver’s side. He put the keys into the ignition but didn’t start the car, resting his hands on the steering wheel. It was quiet, almost peaceful out here after the noise of the club.

“So tell me more about these Fae,” he said.

Cassidy wrapped her arms around her knees, her tight white skirt sliding up her thighs. “You’re curious for someone who didn’t believe in Fae half an hour ago.”

“Things change. I read that Shifters claim Fae created them, wanting Shifters to be their hunters and fighters. Bred them how?”

Cassidy shrugged. “You don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. Fae have strong magic, and they’re far more technologically advanced than humans-as long as the technology doesn’t involve iron. Fae weakened with the rise of iron, and Shifters rebelled and got free of the Fae. You don’t need me to tell you this. I’m sure it’s all in the files at your police station.”

“I thought the Fae connection was just a legend. The files were full of statements by biologists that Shifters are genetic aberrations.”

Cassidy shot him a smile that made his uncooperative hard-on stiffen even more. “Thanks a lot, Lieutenant Escobar.”

“I meant that in the best way.”

Her smile deepened. Diego remembered the kiss they’d shared in the dark in her living room, the winding-up hot kiss he wanted again. He’d gotten another taste in the club, but he hadn’t wanted half the Shifter population and his own brother watching him lick her mouth, tangle her tongue.

Cassidy slid across the seat to him. “I’ve been trying to cover the Fae scent on you,” she said, touching his chest. “So the other Shifters will leave you alone. Want me to keep trying?”

The stiffness was definitely not going away. “Maybe you should,” Diego said.

Cassidy rose to kneel on the seat, and warm, silken woman filled Diego’s arms. He cupped Cassidy’s hips and pulled her to straddle him as he opened her hot mouth.

He kissed her, each stroke going deeper, her tongue dancing across his in the best tango. Their mouths melded, lips moving, searing, seeking. She tasted like heat and honey. He ran his hand up her back, pressing her closer, still kissing.

Her lithe body rocked against his, breasts firm against his chest. Diego ran his hand down the leg that folded on the seat beside him, finding the sweet softness of her thighs.

“Cass,” he whispered. “I can’t get enough of you.”

Cassidy made a little noise in her throat. Diego roved his hands over her back, found the catch of her dress, unhooked it. Bare back met his fingers.

A sound outside the window made Diego open his eyes. Eric?

Not Eric. Diego saw the barrel of a rifle, then heard a pop of the trigger and Cassidy’s gasp as the tranq dart went into her side.