Rage & Killian (11 page)

“Don’t speak of her.” Raphael’s eyes and his tone were grave now. “What she’s been through, she’s allowed to—”

Killian’s brows knit together as the male cut himself off. “What has she been through?”
And why do I even give a shit? Maybe because you want some reason, other than that she hates humans, for how feral she was toward you.

For a second, Raphael looked pissed at himself for saying anything. Then a forced mask of ease came over his expression. “It’s really none of your concern, Mr. O’Roarke. Now. Tell me. What is it you want? And why didn’t I let my Hunter gut you on the bank?”

“I think that’s a question for both of us to answer, but I’ll go first. I need your help.”

“I don’t offer help to humans who wander onto my land. Not anymore.”

Killian expelled a heavy breath. He eyed the guards, who he knew weren’t going anywhere, then turned back to Raphael. “If I was only human, I wouldn’t have wandered onto your land.”

Something that didn’t seem like surprise flickered in Raphael’s eyes. “What are you saying? You are human, Mr. O’Roarke. I smell you.”

“But that’s not all you smell, is it?”

“You are military,” he said in a quiet voice.

“Was,” Killian agreed.

Raphael’s eyes closed for just a second. Pain registered on his face, in the set of his jaw and the furrow in his brow. When he finally opened them again, it wasn’t pain Killian saw there, but Raphael’s killer puma. “So they’ve done it,” he ground out.

Killian’s jaw tightened. The Pantera knew about the plans the secret black ops group operating within the military had to create an army of super soldiers. Well, of course they knew. Or at least their leader did.

“I was told it was therapy for some lingering PTSD I was going through,” Killian explained through gritted teeth. “Injections. Isolation. Therapy. But every day I felt angrier, more combative. And at night, I dreamed…” He cursed under his breath.

“What?” Raphael pushed.

“That I was this massive black puma.”

A muscle pulsed below the leader’s right eye. “How many injections did they give you?”

“Twelve before I escaped and came here.”

“And you came here because…” Raphael began with an edge to his tone. “What? You think you’re one of us now? That you belong here?”

Anger pulled at Killian’s insides. That same anger he’d felt in the lab. “I’m here, commander, because I
don’t
want to be one of you.”

Raphael stared at him.

“I’m here,” Killian continued. “Because I need you to take whatever they put inside of me—out.”

Raphael opened his mouth to speak, but before he did, the exam room door burst open. A man with a ton of tats and piercings, wearing a lab coat, strolled in. And following right behind him—
holy shit
—was none other than Kitten, aka Rosalie.

Aka, the one who’d nearly gutted his ass.

A flash of memory assaulted Killian’s brain as he sat up in the bed. The ground near the bayou. Her on her back. Him on his back. Naked, sweaty, tantalizing flesh…

“Sorry, Raph,” the tatted guy was saying. “I couldn’t stop her.”

“It’s fine, Jean-Baptiste.”

Jean-Baptiste raised his eyebrows, like
Are you sure? She’s super pissed
. But after getting the nod from Raphael, he turned and headed back out.

“Rosalie?” Raphael began.

Killian turned to look at her, ran his gaze from the tips of her black combat boots, up her denim-clad legs to the short dark-gray sweater that exposed an inch of her trim belly. She was physical perfection. Drop dead. Dick to stone. Too bad she was hell-bent on killing him.

His gaze landed on her face. Skin like porcelain, hair the color of the morning sun, green eyes that tried to suck out your soul, and pink lips that were ready to swallow it right down.

“Unbelievable,” she ground out, her eyes narrowed on the leader of her species.

“What is?” Raphael asked her calmly.

She jabbed a finger in Killian’s direction. “You’re keeping him, aren’t you?
Sir
.”

The man’s eyebrows lifted. “Keeping him? He’s not a pet, Rosalie.”

“Damn right, he’s not,” she returned. “He’s the enemy. He fucking attacked me!”

“Okay, come on,” Killian interrupted. “It was you who attacked me. Yanked my ass right out of the water. Got my back to the dirt, claws inside flesh. I’d think you’d be proud of the fact.”

Her eyes cut to his, emerald fire bearing down on him. “Pride comes with a job well done, Human.” One pale eyebrow jutted upward. “You’re still breathing.”

“Rosalie,” Raphael warned.

“For now,” she added.

Killian’s mouth twitched with a grin. “Such hostility.”

She sneered.

“He’s not a pet,” Raphael confirmed. “And he’s not a prisoner. But…he will remain under guard as we sort some things out.”

“
Not
a prisoner?” she repeated, stunned.

“That’s what I said.”

Killian turned to the male. He wasn’t telling Rosalie about the injections. About the reason Killian was here. Why? Were the other Pantera not aware of what was happening? About the super soldier program?

“Fine,” she said tightly.

“Fine?” Killian repeated, his gaze finding hers once again. “The fight is over already?”

She ignored him and looked at Raphael. “I’ll guard him.”

Raphael practically snorted. “I don’t think so.”

Her lip curled. She had a very sexy mouth. “You need someone on him.”

“I have two someones right here,” Raphael said, pointing behind him to the male guards.

“They’re Suits,” she said, as if that explained everything. “You need a Hunter on this. Why not me?”

Raphael exhaled. “Honestly, I don’t think you’re stable enough.”

Her expression went tight and she lifted her chin an inch. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll kill him.” The words were simple. Honest. Obvious. And Raphael didn’t allow her to counter. “He has information we need. That I need.”

She sniffed, disgusted. “Don’t they all.”

The leader of the Pantera didn’t answer. His eyes were strangely kind as he stared at her. Killian wondered if the latitude he was giving her was due to that mysterious something that she’d been through.

Her shoulders drooped. “Don’t you get it?” she continued, her tone softer now. “The humans, they don’t give a shit about us, Raph. Or about sharing anything with us. They only want to destroy us. You keep letting them in here. Giving them chances. Working with them. When are you going to make them pay?”

“Your anger is understandable, Rosalie, but—”

“Don’t give me any of that shit.” She didn’t say it with any amount of menace. But Raphael wasn’t about to let her defiance slide this time.

“Watch yourself, Hunter.” His eyes had darkened. “I believed that when you came to me about forgiving Hiss you’d let go of—”

“Hiss is Pantera,” Rosalie cut in.

Killian sat up even taller. Who was this…Hiss?

“He showed me that when we broke into the lab.” Her eyes swept over Killian. “I have no forgiveness for anything human.”

Jaw tight, Raphael nodded. “Then go. And leave this one to me.”

“No,” Killian broke in.

They both turned to stare at him. “What?” Raphael asked.

“I want her.” The words slid from his tongue like honey. Slow and easy. His eyes locked with Rosalie’s. “If you insist on someone shadowing me, guarding me while I’m here, then I want her.”

The leader cursed, low and black. “I can’t allow it. She wants your blood.”

Killian laughed. “I’m sure she’s not the only one. At least she’s honest about it. I know where she stands.”

Green eyes flickered with heat, but if it was sexual interest or the possibility of getting him alone and removing his heart with her puma’s teeth, he couldn’t tell.

“It’s settled, then,” she said, her lips curving into a smile.

“Nothing is settled until I say it is,” Raphael returned tightly. “Rosalie, if this man ends up dead, you will not be able to remain in the Wildlands. Do you understand me?”

She gasped and turned to look at the leader of her kind.

“Do you want to take that risk?” he asked.

Her jaw tightened, but she nodded.

“I need your word, Hunter,” he pushed.

“He will not die, Raphael. I give you my word.”
But he might feel some pain
, her eyes said.

Killian could handle pain. He might even enjoy it if it was coming from her.

“And,” Raphael said just as she was turning Killian’s way, “no puma.”

She whirled back to face him, eyes wide, nostrils flared.

“When you’re around him, the cat is caged.”

Her face reddened. “Why?”

“You know why,” he stated pointedly, piquing Killian’s curiosity. What was this about? So much mystery surrounding the beautiful and terrifying Rosalie. “Now, take him over to the garden house.”

“That’s very near your home,” she said, looking confused. “Why not one of the secure units?”

“Take him, Hunter.”

She growled softly. “Fine. Follow me, Human.”

With a nod at the leader of the Pantera, Killian grabbed his now-dry shirt and pushed off the bed. As Rosalie walked out the door, her strides confident, her ass swinging from side to side, a thought slammed into his mind before he could stop it.
Follow you? Anywhere, Kitten. Any-fucking-where.

Chapter 3

She’d been to the garden house only once. It was about an acre away from Raphael and his mate Ashe’s two-story antebellum, and overrun with vines and flowers and late tomatoes climbing up the porch railings. The last resident had been an older female who’d kept mostly to herself and had loved everything green and growing, so the exterior of the small two-bedroom cottage appeared to be constructed almost entirely of moss and spotted bee balm. Under the cover of night, the scent of all the living things was intoxicating.

But Rosalie only scented human.

“Are you really going to stand outside the house all night?”

Her back to the front door, Rosalie stared straight ahead, across the long expanse of moonlit yard. The human male had been trying to engage her since they’d arrived an hour ago, this time coming to the open window to speak to her.

“You’ve gotta be hungry,” he added.

She said nothing. Just as she’d said nothing when Raphael, Genevieve, and Lian had brought over food and supplies. While the leader of the Pantera spoke with Killian, the Suit female and the Hunter had tried like hell to not only discuss the human, but get her to relinquish her post as his guard. Lian had even offered to take her place. Said any of the Hunters would. But she’d refused them with a shake of the head.

They thought she’d break. Would give in to her puma’s desire for human blood and get sent away from the Wildlands for it. She understood their worry, and she appreciated their care. But no one “handled” Rosalie except Rosalie.

“There’s a great spread in here,” the human called.

She rolled her eyes. Forget the human part—this man was going to
irritate
her into killing him. “No thanks,” she ground out. “Unless you’re offering me your blood.”

“And if I am…?”

“Then you’ll be dead before dessert.”

“You know you just smiled when you said that, right?”

Her lips twitched. Again. “I don’t doubt it.”

He released a breath. “Come on. Eat with me.”

“No.”

“Rosalie—”

Her head came around fast and she hissed at him. “Don’t call me that. You don’t get to call me that.”

He wasn’t at all put out by her ferocity. “What should I call you, then?” His thick, dark eyebrows lifted. “Hunter? Mistress?” He grinned. “Kitten?”

Oh, the puma wanted out so badly… “Listen, Human. I’m not coming in there and eating with you. Period. End of discussion.”

“All right.” He shrugged, then left the window, disappeared inside the house.

Finally. She heaved a sigh of relief. She didn’t like being around him. Not just because he was human, one of
them
. But because, unfortunately, she found him attractive. She shook her head.
Very attractive
. Like when he spoke, she watched the way his lips moved.

Goddess, she didn’t deserve to breathe. For the fifth time since leaving Medical, she asked herself why she was doing this. Guarding the human. Why she’d insisted on it. Especially after Raphael had made her swear she wouldn’t hurt him. Well, kill him is what she’d actually promised. But one would surely lead swiftly to the other, wouldn’t it?

Why hadn’t she walked away right when the leader had announced the human was staying? She should be patrolling the border, looking for more of them. Groups of them. Enemies of the Pantera.

The screen door pressed against her back then, and instantly she whirled around, her puma ready to spring.
Down girl. You’re not getting me kicked out of my home. Not today.

“Making a break for it, Human?” she snarled as the door opened and Killian emerged.

“For the porch, absolutely,” he returned, moving past her with a snort.

She watched him as he headed for the faded floral loveseat with the small table in front of it and proceeded to set up dinner. A dinner for two. He was wearing the new clothes Lian had brought over: a pair of jeans and a blue Guns N’ Roses T-shirt. Granted, this man was no Pantera male, but he surely equaled one in size. From his height, to the bulging biceps, to the way the shirt clung to hard abs and how tight his ass looked in that denim.

Her lip curled with disgust. But at the same time her belly warmed.
No. Just…no
. “You’re not allowed to leave the residence, Human.”

“I don’t know how you divvy property here in your Wildlands, but where I come from this is still the residence.”

“Where you come from.” She sniffed. “They have porches attached to Locke’s laboratories now, do they?”

“Who’s Locke?”

She rolled her eyes. “Please.”

He didn’t say anything for a second. He was pouring lemonade into glasses. But when he took a seat, he said, “Iowa.”

“What?”

He turned to look at her, those blue eyes annoyingly friendly. “I’m from Iowa. Originally. Farming family. Mostly soybeans.”