Jonah stopped with his spoon halfway to his mouth. His senses told him trouble was slithering across the table. “Sure. What would you like to know?”
“You seem pretty intense about this story. Like it’s more than an assignment to you. Am I right?”
He finished the spoonful of soup, put the spoon back in the bowl and carefully buttered a slice of bread while he collected his thoughts. “I just want to do a good job for my boss.”
Dakota shook her head. “No, it’s more than that. It’s the way you ask your questions. And when you were taking the pictures today, I got the feeling…well…that there was something personal about this.” One corner of her mouth lifted in a half-smile. “Besides, I’m part Native American. We’re supposed to have intuitive reasoning, remember?”
“Is that so? I thought you told me that was a lot of hogwash.” He bit off a piece of bread, chewed slowly, watching her. Something had shifted subtly between them.
She dipped up more of her soup. “I don’t really discuss that part of my heritage with anyone. I have enough trouble with the redneck idiots around here as it is. But I sense some kind of a connection between us, so I feel not as uncomfortable telling you that, yes, I sense things. Just like I did at the kill site today.”
“And exactly what is it you ‘sense’?” he asked. He made himself breathe slowly, easing the tension that wanted to grip every muscle and fire every nerve. She couldn’t know about him, could she? No. Impossible. But there was something…
“I told you. There’s a personal angle here. You’re involved.” She put her spoon down and reached across the table, resting her hand on his arm. “Can you trust me enough to tell me? I know we just met, but…”
“Yes. But.” He felt the surge of heat from her touch spear throughout his system. He had a sudden urge to strip off her t-shirt and take her right there on the floor. Forget about everything but losing himself in her welcoming warmth. “You’re right. I do have my own agenda.”
She waited patiently as he pulled his thoughts together. He hadn’t discussed Jenna with anyone but Craig Stafford and Night Seekers since the police closed the case on her death, chalking it off to a marauding wild animal.
“I was…engaged to be married. To a woman who would be my lifemate. We lived in a pretty rural area in Alabama. I came home late one night after work and…found her body.” He closed his eyes, the painful scene rushing back to him. “There were…puncture wounds on her neck, all her blood had been drained and her stomach ripped open.”
“Oh, Jonah. I am so sorry.” She had left her hand on his arm. Now she slid it down to tangle her fingers with his.
“I’ve never been able to get the picture out of my mind.” He blew out a breath. “Didn’t mean to spoil our meal.”
“No, no. I feel stupid for making you relive it. I had no idea…” She shook her head, then raised her eyes to his again. “You used an unusual term to describe your relationship with your fiancée. You called her lifemate. Is there a special reason? I thought being engaged and getting married implied that.”
How should he answer her? They had been together less than twenty-four hours, scarcely enough time to unveil himself to her. But lust was coiling within him, unhampered by the memory of Jenna, and he thought back to her earlier question—are you always this horny?
Yes. As a shifter with a mixture of pure human and pure wolf blood his sexual urges were always in overdrive. He’d been terrified when he’d had to explain who and what he was to Jenna, but she had unbelievably taken it all in stride. He’d given her the ancient book to read, the one that was his legacy, and left her alone to study it. It had taken every ounce of willpower he possessed to stay away from her while she absorbed his history. Then, two nights later she had knocked on his door, handed him his book, and taken off her coat. She was completely naked underneath the fabric. When she held out her arms to him his heart had leaped in his chest and he gave thanks to every god and goddess watching over him.
Could he find the same thing with Dakota? Had he been led here for that very reason?
“It’s…just a term. One that others I know use. Maybe one of these days I’ll explain to you exactly how binding it is.”
She looked at him strangely, then shrugged and picked up her spoon again. “All right. Did you get your pictures sent all right?”
“Yes. I’ll call my office later and see what they think about them.”
“Do you have pictures from other, um, sites, also?”
He nodded. “We’ll see if there are any similarities, but I don’t hold out much hope. This devil just seems to, I don’t know, dematerialize. Or something. When we checked the entire area around my house there was nothing. No trace that anything living had even been there, human of animal.”
Dakota’s face paled under its beautiful bronze coloring. “So you’re saying that the Chupacabra is something supernatural.”
Yes, you’re damn right.
“That’s what I’m saying.” He started to say something else, thought better of it and clamped his lips shut.
“You were going to say it’s no different from any Native American legends I might have grown up with, right?”
Jonah laid his spoon carefully on the table, wiped his mouth and set his napkin precisely next to his bowl. When he looked up he made every effort to keep his voice calm and even.
“Dakota. We aren’t going to get very far with anything if you get your back up every time you think I
might
be making a slur on your heritage. Can we call some kind of truce here? I’m not the enemy.”
She looked down at her half-empty bowl. “You have to understand something, Jonah. I’m a hybrid. My mother’s people shun me as much as my father’s. I’ve learned to develop my defenses, keep my shields up. It makes it easier not to be hurt.”
“Look at me,” he commanded. When she raised her eyes, he continued, “When you’re a little less prickly and a lot more receptive, I’ll tell you a hybrid story that will make yours seem like a nursery rhyme. But for now, just know that I have the utmost respect for you and your heritage.
All
your heritage. And I will never do anything to hurt you or make you feel less than the wonderful person you are.”
She looked at him for a long time, emotions he couldn’t begin to understand chasing themselves across her face and rising in turbulent waves in her eyes. Because he was intuitive he sensed her inner struggle, the need to hold back conflicting with the desire to open up to him.
“All right.” her answer came out on a long breath. “But it’s so ingrained in me you’ll have to help me if I falter.”
He nodded. “Always.”
“Why do I feel this…connection to you, Jonah? I barely know you.”
“I feel it to. There are very good reasons for this but I don’t think you’re ready to hear the explanation.”
“But when will that be? What’s so difficult you can’t just tell me?”
He gave her a rueful smile. “Trust me. We’ll both know when the time is right. Meanwhile, let’s not let this delicious soup go to waste.”
They ate in a comfortable silence, broken only when Dakota put her spoon down again and cleared her throat. He looked across the table at her.
“Jonah?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve never had another man here. In this place. My home.”
Jonah stared at her, something shifting inside him. “Never?”
She shook her head. “I never have anyone here. This is my sanctuary. I won’t want people to invade it.”
He sat back in his chair, his eyes still fixed on her. “Then why did you invite me?”
Her lips curved in a tiny smile. “Well, you weren’t exactly going away.”
“We could have talked on the porch.” He grinned. “Or you could have shot me.”
She laughed outright. “Don’t think I wasn’t tempted.” Then the sober expression returned to her face. “Will I sound crazy if I tell you we have a connection?”
“No.” He reached across the table for one of her hands. “It’s there. I’m damned if I know why and I sure as hell wasn’t expecting it, but I learned long ago not to question things like that.”
“Answer a question for me.” Her face sobered. “Is it just the sex? Are you saying that because you want to fuck me?”
He was shocked at first at the crudity of her language and then at her assumption. Had he given her that idea? Sure, he’d taken a lot of women for a mindless quick fuck, but he always told them first. Made it very clear. He was sure he hadn’t done that with Dakota. Like he said, he wasn’t looking for something but the alpha of his former pack had always said you find it where it’s meant to be.
So how to answer her without opening up a can of worms he wasn’t prepared to deal with yet? He couldn’t tell her yet about being a shifter but he could at least get rid of the most obvious falsehood.
“If you’re cooking up some lie,” she went on when he didn’t answer, “forget it. I can handle truth.”
“No lies,” he told her. “I’m just trying to figure out how to say what I want to without you thinking it’s a line. So, okay. Whatever’s going on between us is more than hello and goodbye. I think we’ve figured that out. Right?”
“Maybe.”
“Dakota, the way we connected sexually is a lot more than a maybe. It might not have a name yet but it’s there.” He blew out a breath. “And because it is, I’m going to tell you something that has to stay just between us. That means I trust you.”
Her face was a mask, unreadable, but the look in her eyes was intense. “Go ahead.”
“This thing with the magazine is just a cover story.” He pressed his palms to his knees so he wouldn’t be tempted to fiddle with his spoon or shred his paper napkin while he talked, anything that might give her the wrong impression.
“You’re not a writer or reporter or whatever your business card says.”
He shook his head. “I’m part of a very shadowy group called Night Seekers. Everyone in the group comes from some area of law enforcement. What binds us together is we’ve each lost someone very close to us to the Chupacabra.”
Her eyes widened, the tensing of facial muscles betraying both surprise and shock. “So you’ve seen him? It? Whatever?”
“No. That’s part of the problem. But everyone died the same way, same bite marks on the neck, body drained of blood then disemboweled. And no evidence left behind, not even animal prints.”
“But it could be an animal of some kind,” she insisted. “I mean, a lot of people have always thought it was just a coyote or even a wolf.”
“They leave tracks. And a particular scent. None of that was present at any of these kills.”
Dakota cocked her head and studied him. “So how many of you are there and who runs this show? Who puts up the money? This can’t be a cheap operation.”
Jonah nodded. “It’s not. There are eight of us and we have a very wealthy benefactor whose name I can’t tell you. It’s not important, anyway.”
“And do you all work on each case?”
“No. We drew straws to see in what order we’d go. Hoping, of course, that after the first one we’d have found the beast, killed it and be done with it.” He picked up his glass of water and took a swallow. “We’re pretty new and I’m the first up. The others provide support and backup back at our headquarters.”
“Do you—”
He held up his hand, palm out, and stood up. “That’s all I can tell you right now. I have to get permission for more. Why don’t we wash these dishes and I’ll call and check on what they did with the pictures I sent.”
He saw the frustration chase itself across her face but she sighed and rose from her chair, picking up her bowl and glass. “Fine. But just so you know, I’m not through asking questions.”
He smiled. “I didn’t think you were.”
* * * * *
The animal was restless, agitated, hungry. Hungry for blood. The lust was surging up within it, a living thing that required enormous control. Wishing full dark would arrive, it lay down and pillowed its head. Its body was tired but sleep would not come.
Around it the sounds of night were especially sharp. Nocturnal birds were calling to each other. Night predators wandered in their quest for prey but none so hungry as the beast. Saliva dripped from its oddly shaped mouth, lips drawn back to reveal the teeth with finely honed points. The urge to kill was so strong it drew its entire body up into one tight mass of muscle. But the instinct for self-preservation was stronger. To kill right now could mean its own death.
Scents drifted across its nose, carried by the gentle night breeze. The animal scents of cattle and horses, deer, feral hogs, foxes, raccoons. Abundant vegetation like greasewood, white brush, retama and catclaw. And the rich aroma of black earth. All of them like feathers teasing at his senses.
The urge was so strong the beast nearly bit itself in suppressed rage at the forced impotency.
Rolling over, it clamped its jaws shut and tried to ease the tension in its body. But as the moon rose higher and coyotes howled in the distance, it knew the control would only last for so long.
Chapter Six
“Let’s look at the pictures one more time.”
Sam Brody stood behind Sophia with his ever-present mug of coffee, studying the big screen on the wall. His eyes felt gritty and he was beginning to wonder if all this coffee was destroying his brain. He couldn’t seem to manage a single coherent thought.
“Okay, Sam, but I don’t think we’ll find anything new.” Sophia whisked her fingers across the screen on her desk, dragging the pictures up to the wall screen. In seconds she had the shots from each of the killings they’d been connected to side by side with the ones Jonah had sent from Eagle Pass.
“There is one similarity,” Ric Garza said.
“What?” Sam and Sophia both spoke at once.
“There’s nothing there.” He pointed to each picture. “The ground around the scene is not disturbed at all. So how does this…animal get there and then get away?”
“Every site is in a rural or sparsely populated area,” Sophia added. “But we knew that.”
“Let’s put the big map up on the wall,” Ric suggested. “We’ll put a marker at each location, then see if we can figure out some kind of pattern.”
“We’ve done that before,” Sam reminded him.
“I know.” The frustration in Ric’s voice was harsh. “But we have to try again. There has to be something here. Maybe even some kind of migration pattern. If we look hard enough we’ll find it.”
“It’s been everywhere.” Dante Martello had moved up silently to join them. “I should know.”
“But it didn’t attack your family in the city,” Sam commented.
“No. My folks had gone on vacation to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I think that’s the only episode reported in that state. So either it has a pattern of movement around the country or there’s more than one of it.”
All conversation stopped at the team members looked at each other, the horror of Dante’s words freezing them in place.
* * * * *
They were lying side by side on the bed, facing each other, Jonah’s body tightened against hers, his cock flexing. His eyes darkened for a moment, with something far different from passion, and she wondered if she’d made a mistake. Dakota started to move away from him but he tightened his arms around her.
“Stay still. This feels good.”
She giggled. “I’m beginning to think you’re a sex maniac.”
He grinned. “You may just be right. At least with you.”
Just the way it was with Jenna.
“I hate to say this but I really have to call my team, and I should get back to the motel.”
She tensed, thoughts spinning around in her mind, wondering if she dared tell him what she was thinking. He’d blown into her life like the desert wind, scattering her wits and her defenses but something inexorable was pulling her toward him. Now she was about to do something impulsive. Still, she’d allowed him to invade her mental spaces, why not her living space?
She placed her palm against his cheek, feeling the end of day stubble rasping against her skin. “So, Jonah. You could stay here with me while you investigate what happened.”
He went completely still beneath her touch and apprehension snaked through her. Was she being too bold? Stepping over a line? After all, they’d been together less than a day. Still, he’d say…
“You sure that’s what you want?” His question broke her train of thought.
“What?” She blinked. “Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”
He threaded his fingers through her hair, holding her head in place, his eyes boring into hers. “You’ve never invited anyone inside here before. Now you’re willing to let me move in. That’s a big step.”
She tried again to withdraw from him but he threw one leg over both of hers, trapping her against him.
“I’m just making sure, Dakota.” His voice was like warm syrup, dripping over her and coating her with its thickness. “Twenty-four hours ago we didn’t even know each other. Now something’s happening here and I don’t want to ruin it.”
She let out a long breath she didn’t even realize she’d been holding. “I’m sure. Definitely. Absolutely.”
“Okay, then.” He brushed his lips against hers. “Why don’t you come with me while I check out of the motel. We can pick up a pizza to bring back here with us. Maybe some more wine.”
Her muscles tensed again he frowned. Go into town? With him? Subject him to the comments she knew would be thrown around? “Why don’t you just go on ahead. I’ll build up the fire and fix some snacks.”
He frowned. “You don’t want to be seen with me?”
She shook her head. “It’s the other way around. I’m used to the things people say about
me
, but it shouldn’t have to spill over to you. It might affect your investigation.”
The frown deepened and when he spoke she sensed the underlying anger. “If anyone has something to say, they can say it to my face, and I’ll have an answer they might not like. And if anyone tries to step into my work, I’ll have reinforcements down here faster than they can turn around.”
“Okay.” Something warm flowed through her. Except for Neil and her late grandfather she’d never had a champion. Her mother had been too fragile and withdrawn to deal with the scorn they faced, hiding herself away in her garden and her mixing shed rather than carving out a place for the two of them in Eagle Pass so-called society. “If you’re sure.”
He brushed his lips against hers, soft against soft, the whisper of a bird’s wings but enough to send sparks through her body straight to her cunt. She was wet again, she could feel it. He wasn’t unaffected by the simple gesture, either. Against her thigh his cock thickened and flexed.
She felt his lips curve in a smile.
“If we don’t go right now,” he murmured, “we’ll never get out of this bed.” He untangled himself from her and gave her a soft slap on the buttocks. “Let’s do this so we can get back here and attend to business.”
She softened at the gleam in his eyes. “I think that’s the kind of business I like.”
Dakota dressed in jeans and t-shirt while Jonah pulled on his clothes, then followed him out to his dual cab truck. He navigated the rutted drive back to the road as if he’d always been driving it.
“So how did you end up in that cabin in the middle of nowhere?” he asked once they hit the highway.
How indeed. Luck and a wonderful grandfather.
“My grandfather on my father’s side owned it. He was a guide for Neil Washington’s father just my father after him.”
“So it’s kind of a family tradition?”
Dakota shrugged. “I guess. My folks lived in town until my grandfather died.” Pain shot through her stomach at the memory of those days. Her father had thought it might be easier for her mother, until he discovered they were all pariahs, the white hunter, the Kickapoo squaw and their half-breed daughter. “Then they moved out here.”
“How long ago did your folks die?”
Dakota tightened her fists in her lap. The loss of her parents still pained her. She and her father had been very close. Her relationship with her mother had been different, and after Dean Furcal passed away her mother had simply just withered until she slipped away like a ghost. Thinking about it always made her unhappy. And cold.
“My father died ten years ago. Bad case of the flu. My mother two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.” He reached over and placed one of his warm hands over both of hers, infusing her with his heat. “I could hear the pain in your voice. I didn’t mean to make you unhappy.”
“No, no. It’s all right.” She sighed. “It’s just that it’s so…complicated.”
“I can relate to that,” he told her.
“Are your parents dead, also?” She was curious about the background and family of this unusual man. He took so long to answer that she wondered if now
she’d
stepped into difficult territory.
“That’s also complicated,” he said at last.
“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” she said quickly. “It’s really none of my business.”
“Yes. It is.” His voice was firm. “But it’s a long story and not something I want to get into on a short drive.”
There was some tone in his voice she couldn’t define, some underlying emotion, but she decided to drop it. At least for now. If this all proved too good to be true and he was gone when he got whatever he’d come to Eagle Pass for, then it wouldn’t matter. She knew it was foolish of her to hope for anything else. Still…
“We’re here.”
Jonah’s voice broke into her reverie and she looked up to realize they were parked at the motel in front of what was probably his room.
“I’ll wait for you here,” she told him.
But he simply ignored her, came around to her side of the truck, opened her door, unlocked her seat belt and tugged her out of the truck.
“I have this weird feeling that if I leave you alone for five seconds you might disappear, like some figment of my imagination. Come on. This won’t take long.”
The motel room was just as depressing as she’d expected it to be. Eagle Pass wasn’t exactly a tourist spot and the hunters either arrived in RVs or didn’t much care where they slept. As she ran her eyes over the room, Dakota spotted a thick volume sitting on the nightstand, old judging by the cloth binding which was frayed at the edges. The title,
Legend of the Pack,
was splashed across the cover in an old-fashioned script.
“I’ll take that.”
Jonah lifted it easily from her hands as she picked it up.
Curious, she asked, “What’s it about?”
“I’ll tell you about it sometime.” He slid it easily into his duffel bag and returned to collecting his belongings.
Dakota sat in one of the two straight-backed chairs while Jonah quickly and efficiently finished packing up the few clothes he’d brought with him and gathered his toilet articles from the bathroom.
He dumped his duffel bag in the backseat of his pickup and then helped her into the front seat.
“I won’t make you come in with me while I check out,” he told her. “I’d never put you in that uncomfortable position. It won’t take me a minute to take care of this.”
She forced herself to stand next to him while he ordered their pizza, and then sit in a booth drinking sodas while they waited for their food to be prepared. The place was pretty full, as close as it was to dinnertime, and she was acutely aware of the stares everyone cast their way.
“Ignore them.” Jonah placed one of his hands over hers, a gesture she realized he did quite often, maybe as a way of reassuring her. “They’re just jealous because I’m in here with the most beautiful woman in Maverick County.”
Dakota made a face. “Yeah, right.”
“I mean it. Look at me, Dakota.” When she raised her eyes she saw heat in his and something else. Possession? After less than a day together? Not possible. “Listen to what I’m going to say. I’m proud to be with you. And if no one around here likes that, tough shit. It’s their problem.”
She wasn’t sure what she would have said if the man behind the counter hadn’t called their number just then. She slid out of the booth and stood next to Jonah while he paid for their food, doing her best to ignore the rude stares of the customers. Jonah balanced the cardboard box with one hand and opened the restaurant door with the other, ushering her out to the parking lot.
“I hope that wasn’t too uncomfortable for you,” she murmured as she climbed into the truck.
He placed the cardboard box carefully on the backseat, shut the door and leaned in to her. “I’ve been in situations a lot worse than that. Do what I said. Ignore them.”
“It’s kind of hard when I live here, you know.”
He frowned. “Did this make things worse for you in some way?”
“No, no, no.” The words came out quickly. “That’s not what I meant at all.”
Jonah reached into the cab of the truck and cupped her face with his warm hands. “Then we won’t worry about it. Okay? Tell me where I can pick up some wine to go with this pizza and we’re all set. The hell with these people.”
Dakota sat silently in the truck on the drive back to the cabin, wondering if Jonah was telling the truth when he said the attitude of the people in town didn’t matter to him. Or maybe he just didn’t care because he’d be gone before long. That thought made disappointment ball in her stomach and a shiver race over her spine.
What did you expect? No matter what he said, he still didn’t promise anything. And when have I ever gotten what I really wanted?
A warm hand landed on her thigh and squeezed. She glanced over at Jonah. He was concentrating on the road ahead but his lips were curved in a smile.
“I can almost smell your brain burning, Dakota. Try not to overthink everything, okay?”
She placed her hand over his where it was burning through the fabric of her jeans and imprinting itself on her thigh. “In my situation it’s hard not to.”
“So, don’t you ever talk to anyone when you go into town? Shop for groceries? Buy clothes? Whatever?”
She shrugged. “I pump my own gas, buy groceries once a month and order everything else online. I don’t have to talk to anyone at the gas station, or at the post office when I pick up my mail.”