Sebastian/Aristide (Bayou Heat) (14 page)

Hiss raised one eyebrow at the pale blond Hunter. “I’ll be guarding the prisoners myself.”

The female nodded and took off with her partner. With Hiss, there was no questioning, no suspicion. He was trusted and respected by all.

So foolish
.
So goddamn foolish
. To trust him or any Pantera. Because, truly, they were all capable of treachery.

Hiss entered the small, one bedroom home and headed for the door to the basement. The Pantera had made a practice of this, buying land, houses, all over the United States to use for their particular purposes. Hiding, escape, holding prisoners. This property was a brand new acquisition. To keep the Pantera’s enemies close—but not too close.

Hiss descended the short flight of stairs, lit only by a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. The cold space was sparse, dank, and housed two side-by-side cages. Both of which were occupied.

Hiss’s gaze moved over the human male, Chayton, who had been taken over by Shakpi several weeks ago. The male was still unconscious after his recent attempts to flush the goddess from his body, but Hiss knew that the powerful spirit still dwelled within him, hovering just beneath the surface of the male’s aging skin, waiting for its chance. It would be Hiss’s job to assist in her awakening. Just as soon as they had the blood of the child.

“Do your kind know you’re a traitor yet?”

Hiss turned sharply at the interruption to his thoughts, his eyes narrowing on the woman in the other cell. “The only traitor here is you, Cerise.” He clucked his tongue. “Leading that female to where Shakpi was holding her mate captive? You are as good as dead when she wakes.”

The silver-haired woman with the sharp eyes shrugged. “Perhaps. But at least I won’t die a fool. Like you.”

Hiss laughed. He was no fool. Ruthless and without mercy, yes, But not a fool.

“I realized too late that Shakpi was only using me,” Lady Cerise muttered, her fingers closing around the bars of her cage. “She was never going to grant me the power she dangled in front of me daily.”

“See, that’s the difference between us,” Hiss stated evenly. “I’m not looking for power. Only justice.”

Her stoic gaze connected with his. “And this is justice? Allowing a Pantera infant to be killed before it even takes its first breath?”

A painful heat snaked through Hiss’s body. The death of Ashe’s child would cause him no amount of grieving. He knew that. He knew he was about to become a monster. But it was justice. The deep and abiding pain the Pantera had caused him when they’d sacrificed his entire family to keep themselves hidden still bloomed within him. He was without anyone because of the Pantera. His Diplomat parents and his sister had been exposed to the human world, and instead of bringing them home, sheltering them, the Pantera leaders had allowed the three to be taken out, to be killed.

For the good of the Pantera.

He growled low and hateful in his throat. Just as they hadn’t stopped his family’s death, Hiss wouldn’t stop the death of their young ‘savior.’

“You look tired, Cerise,” he said before turning back toward the staircase. “But remember to sleep with one eye open. Shakpi will awaken.”

“I hate this,” Raphael uttered, pacing back and forth in front of the door to the room that housed his beloved mate.

Ashe was still in labor, Isi by her side. The sisters seemed totally connected, supporting and giving power and healing to each other, and Aristide had seen Raphael leave the room several times to give them space.

Aristide eyed the guards who were lined up on either side of the door. With the threat of harm to Ashe and her child, no one was taking any chances.

“She’s doing very well,” Aristide assured him.

“It’s taking so long.”

“It’s her first cub, Raphael. And a Pantera. And we all know better than to rush a Pantera, don’t we?”

The Suit’s eyes lifted. They were tired, but Aristide’s words had granted them a flicker of humor. “I’m just…”

“An anxious father,” Aristide finished.

“Yes. And seeing her in pain…”

“But it’s a beautiful pain. One that gives hope to us all.”

“Nurturer,” Raphael growled half-heartedly.

“Damn right. And better than having to wear one of those silk cat collars.” He grinned. “Or as you Suits call it, a tie.”

Raphael laughed for a moment, then his eyes narrowed a fraction. “Do I hear correctly that we have a human woman in custody? Somewhere in this very medical facility?”

Aristide’s body tensed. “We do.”

“And is she working for our enemies?”

“Parish and the Hunters believe so.”

The Suit’s eyes darkened. “What do you believe, Ari? It was you who found her, wasn’t it? And your judgment has always been top notch.”

Yes, it had. But that was before his puma had set its dark eyes on a secretive Snow White in heels. “She is definitely hiding something, but I don’t think she wishes us ill. She seemed genuinely shocked when she realized the trouble she caused.”

“Then why did she do it? I saw the article online.” Raphael glanced at the guards, then looked back, his voice lowered. “And it’s not one of those bullshit tabloids no one takes seriously. It’s reputable. My spies have told me that the humans are taking it as a call to action.”

“She claims it was satire,” Aristide said.

Raphael sniffed his disbelief and his annoyance. “Well, whatever it was, it’s already made the humans who live in our vicinity, the ones who’ve always wondered about us, start organizing. Search parties, investigations. We can’t have humans raining down on us right now with our enemies closing in, our magic waning, and Ashe in labor.”

Aristide’s nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply. “I know, and I’ll find out the truth.”

“How?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

Raphael took a deep breath and let it out. “Well if you don’t, the Hunters will. Any way they can. And they’d better.” His gaze flickered toward the door. “I won’t have a traitor here, Ari.”

Aristide’s puma scratched beneath his skin. It didn’t like this conversation. It didn’t like what the Suit was insinuating. All it wanted was to get to the woman again and be close to her, protect her. Shit, maybe even rub up against her.

Fool cat.

“I’m going back to my Ashe now,” Raphael said with a nervousness that completely contradicted his normally hard-ass demeanor. “Maybe she’ll let me do something. I offered to let her hold my hand when she was having contractions, break the goddamn thing if she wanted to. But she needs her sister…”

“Everything’s going to be fine, brother,” Aristide said with a quick touch to the male’s shoulder. “And soon you’ll be holding your cub.”

The look Raphael gave him before he disappeared inside the room made Aristide’s chest tight. Nothing was going to harm this little family. This new Pantera life. This chance and hope for them all to have a future. Damn, maybe cubs of their own someday. He had to find out what the woman knew, what was coming for them and when.

He moved down the hall with long, purposeful strides. He had a meeting in the labs in ten minutes with two of his pathologist colleagues, but he was going to check on the woman first. Try and get her to talk to him, tell him why she would write such lies about people she didn’t know, or a world she’d only guessed at while working at The Cougar’s Den. But when he opened the door to her room, he didn’t find her alone. The guards who were supposed to be outside her door and window were instead standing over her bed, trying to pin her down.

Aristide’s puma burst to the surface of his skin, causing him to shift in and out of his cat state. Adrenaline rushed through him. He started to pant and his vision went crystal clear.

He launched himself at the bed, growled at the guards. “What the hell is going on here?” he demanded.

Never in his life had he experienced something like this. He was in pure attack mode, and it took everything inside of him to rein in his fitful cat.

One of guards glanced up, his eyes going wide at whatever he saw on Aristide’s face. “She tried to escape.”

“That’s not true!” Katherine cried out, fighting the female who was trying to hold her down. “I just wanted to get up, walk around, go to the goddamn bathroom!”

The male shook his head at Aristide. “She can’t be on the floor, sir, not today. We can’t risk it. We need to strap her down.”

“No.” This time it was Aristide and not his puma who answered.

The female guard turned to look at him with a shocked expression. “Sir?”

“I agree she can’t be loose on the floor,” Aristide said through gritted teeth, keeping his tone as even as possible. “But I won’t have her strapped down like a mad creature.”

Katherine stopped struggling, but her breathing remained erratic and her eyes were filled with tears.

“Then, how—” the male began.

“She’s well enough to leave Medical,” Aristide said quickly.

The female guard’s eyes widened. “Parish will not allow her to leave the Wildlands, sir.”

“And neither will I.” Aristide’s eyes locked onto Katherine Burke. “She’s going home with me.”

***

Her mouth agape, Kat moved underneath the rose-trellised archway and up the path toward the one-story house. A charming, freshly painted home with several mature trees bracketing it, and a sweet two-person swing on one side of the porch. It wasn’t the only dwelling like it in the lush Wildlands. In fact, Kat had seen several of the darling cottages dotted here and there as she walked with Aristide.

“Not exactly the rat traps tossed together by savages who don’t care about the sewage they live in or the hordes of unfed children running around,” Aristide said, heading up the porch steps in front of her. “The near-animals who could break free from their land at any moment and go hunting in the human world.”

Kat flinched at his words. No. At
her
words. God, she hated that article, hated that she’d had to say ‘screw you’ to her love of writing in exchange for such damaging fiction. But she couldn’t help it. In fact, she’d do it again if it would keep her Noah safe.

As she moved up the steps to the porch, she took in the man who held the front door open. All six feet two inches of lean muscle and captivating presence. She knew now that his name was Aristide, knew that he was something in the medical community here, knew that he was an actual puma shifter—and god, she definitely knew that he was about the most gorgeous thing she’d ever seen in her life. But what she didn’t know was why he’d brought her here—why he’d saved her from being restrained, from being an immobile prisoner in a hospital bed.

“Come inside, Katherine,” he said in a calm voice.

Damn, she liked his voice. Liked it way too much. It made her feel safe somehow, no matter how insane that sounded in the situation she was in. Because no matter what, no matter where she was, she had to remember that she was still a prisoner. A prisoner who had to find a way to escape.

She walked past him into the house and saw that the interior of the place was just as comfortable and well appointed as the outside. Warm rugs and leather couches…desks and artwork, and a fireplace. Her heart sank a touch inside her chest. She’d always dreamed of having a place like this for herself and Noah. She wondered if, after all of this, after it was over, she could really have a normal life.

“Come. Let me show you your room,” Aristide said, leading her down the short hallway that was lit by skylights. “Bathroom is there,” he said, gesturing to the end of the corridor. “And this is where you’ll stay.”

This is the most perfect room in the world,
she thought the very second she stepped into the large, warm and incredibly inviting space.

“My sister fixed it up as a guestroom before she moved out,” Aristide explained behind her. “It’s a little too white and has way more flowers than I’m comfortable with, but if I don’t have to sleep in it then I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said in a whisper, taking in the rosebud wallpaper and blush-colored pillows.

“Good. Glad it suits.” He was a quiet for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll let you settle in, rest. You really should rest. Doctors orders.”

“Wait,” Kat blurted out, her back to him. “Why, Aristide?”

“What?”

She turned around and stared at him. At this man who, because of his size and muscles and intensely black stare, should be feared. But to Kat, his presence gave her peace and warmth, and—dare she think it—hope?

“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Why did you bring me here? Why wouldn’t you just leave me in the hospital, let them keep me hostage?”

His eyes remained a dark, calm sea. “Would you like to return, Katherine?”

She shivered. “No.”

“Then it doesn’t matter what my reasons are, does it?”

“Yes, it matters,” she said with a touch of heat. God, she was so confused, so scared. She hated being scared. She needed Noah, needed to know he was all right and that Marco was keeping his word. Maybe she could find a phone, or borrow Aristide’s cell. She’d lost hers in the wreck. But would he let her contact anyone?