UnexpectedFind (10 page)

He walked toward her with his gaze locked to hers. A hungry
look slid over his face but it didn’t hold sexual interest, at least not a
healthy kind. Demented. Sick. The words bounced in her head. She had to get out
of here. The fear choked her. Real or not, she wanted to run and run and never
stop, not until she was safe.

She stepped forward but he was suddenly there, invading her
personal space. She jerked back. He leaned over her, palms to the wall over her
head. His cologne drifted to her, something rich and musky that reminded her of
fine cigars and whiskey. She choked on it, didn’t like how it filled her lungs.

“Hey, beautiful. Did your lover run out on you?”

She bent her head to meet those deadened brown eyes. Her
stomach clenched. “No. He’s picking me up.”

The stranger raised a brow and turned his head toward the
elevator. A smirk lifted one corner of his lips. He peered down at her and the
smirk turned into a sneer. “So you spent the night alone? No one to warm your
bed?”

She pushed against his chest, didn’t move him. “Move it,
mister. I am not interested in talking to you.”

He grabbed her wrists, dragged her hands down his stomach
and pressed them to the bulge in his pants. Mouth pressed to her ear, he
whispered, “Talking isn’t what I want to do, little female.”

She gritted her teeth. She would not freak out. They were in
public. Everything was fine. He couldn’t do anything to her with people only a
few feet away. The rationalization gave her courage. “Move or I’ll scream.”

He licked her neck then rubbed his cheek against her flesh. “Is
that a promise?”

With his grip directing her hands, he forced her to stroke
his cock. Oh no. This wasn’t happening. She opened her mouth to yell for help
but he swallowed her cry. He kissed her while he used her hands to stimulate
him. She bucked and squirmed but her cries were muffled. And nobody came over.

She couldn’t believe this was happening. She dug her nails
into his groin, squeezed his trapped shaft as hard as she could. He only
groaned into her mouth and shoved his hips closer. Tears ran down her cheeks.
Tremors shook her body. She didn’t know how to stop him. He was too strong.

“Get your fucking hands off her.” Josh’s bellowed order made
the man kissing her pull back. He was panting hard but he did as Josh bade. He
stepped away from her and held up his hands.

“We’ll finish that later, sweet thing. I’m patient. I’ll
wait my turn to get between your thighs.”

Josh grabbed the guy’s shoulders and shoved him. The push
knocked him over a chair. It tipped with him when he fell and landed on top of
him. People gasped, some woman screamed but the man who’d forced himself on her
grinned. His gaze locked to Josh.

Josh strode forward, leaned over the fallen chair. “Come
near her again and you’ll regret it.” He pressed a booted foot to the man’s
chest then leaned forward on the bent leg. The guy gasped. Josh smiled, pushed
a little harder until the man groaned. “It’ll be your last damn mistake. Do you
understand me?”

The guy chuckled and eyed Josh with the same heated lust he’d
shown her. “Oh yeah. I understand. Consider your warning delivered.”

Josh gave him one last hard glare, reached back and grabbed
her hand. A yank and she tumbled against him. He tucked her close and walked
across the room, never taking his eyes off the sprawled man until the revolving
door blocked him from view.

A light mist fell and the humidity in the air made it hard
to breathe. Add in the terror still making her limbs shaky and she was close to
a full-fledged anxiety attack. Josh squeezed her arm as they walked. The gentle
reminder that she wasn’t alone calmed her. She stepped closer to him. He
wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

His SUV was a welcome sight. It meant they’d be safe soon.
He popped the locks, waited until she was inside before jogging around the car
and getting in. He turned in his seat, one leg bent, and demanded, “What
happened?”

She hadn’t mentioned anything in the text other than she
needed him ASAP because really…what was she supposed to say? She wasn’t so sure
she knew what was the truth and what was a lie. Everything had seemed so much
clearer last night.

She glanced from Josh’s concerned face to the hotel. “Not
now. We’ve got to get out of here. He might come out.” And beat the living hell
out of Josh. Rafe struck her as the possessive type.

One corner of Josh’s mouth lifted. “That bastard’s not going
to bother you while I’m here.”

“Not him.” Josh’s brows furrowed and she forced herself to
add, “The man I spent the night with.”

Pain shown on Josh’s face first, but his features tightened
and his nostrils flared. He leaned over and tipped her chin so she met his
narrowed eyes. “Did he hurt you? Force you?” He snapped his teeth together. “I’ll
kill the fucker.”

Panic rose. Her first instinct was to protect Rafe. She didn’t
fight it. Josh looked capable of carrying out the threat and she wasn’t certain
Rafe deserved it. Maybe the crazy part of her that wanted to throw herself back
into his arms was right, but she couldn’t trust it. The risks were too great.
She had to check on her kids first then worry about unraveling the truth.

“No, wait,” she held her hands up. “He didn’t hurt me.”

He rubbed his thumb over her jaw, a gentle caress meant to
comfort. Guilt settled over her. The good guy she’d wanted to see in Rafe was
really the one in front of her. She leaned into Josh’s touch but it didn’t warm
her.

“Then what, Jazz? Did you wake up and have second thoughts?”

She turned her head to look at the lobby door. The guy who’d
groped her stood under the awning with a phone pressed to his ear. He wasn’t
looking their way but that didn’t mean he wasn’t watching them. Or maybe she
was just being paranoid. She’d become suspicious of everyone’s actions over the
last five years. And the one time she ignored that inner voice in the bar the
other night, she’d ended up in bed with a shifter.
A deliciously sinful
shifter who made me writhe in pleasure.

The groping guy slid his phone back into his pocket and
strode across the lot. She tensed. He was headed their way. Josh noticed him
too. He cursed and started the car, but the guy walked down the next aisle to
where a cab waited. He opened the door but turned his head and locked gazes
with her. He winked, got in the cab and was gone.

She shivered and Josh reached for her. He took her hand in
his. It was warm, comforting. Didn’t chase the chill away. She reached for the
knob to turn the heater on. Josh frowned but didn’t say anything. It was early
summer and over eighty degrees outside but she couldn’t stop shaking. The blast
of hot air helped a little bit and she faced Josh.

She blew out a breath, ignored the ache in her heart and said,
“Let’s just go. I’ll explain everything on the way.”

Rafe woke with a smile on his face and reached for his
female. Cold sheets met his fingers. He sat up, looked from the floor where
Jasmine’s clothes had been to the door. He parted his mouth and inhaled. She
was gone, had been for a while. Terror whipped through him, instantly agitating
his cats. His inner animals paced, growling their displeasure while he choked
on fear. He jumped from the bed, grabbed his pants and yanked them on. Then he
stood there, unsure what to do, only knowing that he felt as if somebody had
kicked him in the gut. His whole damn chest hurt.

His female had left him. Why? Gods, he couldn’t come up with
a reason. She’d allowed him into her body. Twice. Accepted his seed. Slept with
her head pillowed on his chest. Dammit, why?

He ran a hand through his hair, then reached for his phone
to call Kade. It too was gone. His gaze swept the room, looking for some clue.
The bathroom door was cracked open. The scent of shampoo and Jasmine drifted
from it. He walked forward. Found his phone on the counter. He picked it up,
made his way back to the bedroom. He rammed his feet into his boots without
bothering to tie them and grabbed his shirt.

The elevator seemed to take forever to travel three floors.
It opened once. The two men waiting to get on took one look at him and told him
they’d catch the next one. He slammed the button and paced the confines of the
square enclosure. It finally opened and he nearly knocked over an elderly
human. He righted the woman, mumbled an apology and jogged into the lobby.

Smells assaulted him. Quite a few people had been through
the room but Jasmine’s fragrance was strong and familiar. Because of the
scent-claim he’d added to her cut, his fragrance was twined with it. It eased
the possessive edge of his persona. One whiff and all shifters would know that
Jasmine was a beloved human. His female. He took in another deep lungful but
the signature lingering in the air ruined his enjoyment and brought his animal
side out.

Josh. She’d run to the human. Left him.

Rafe curled his fingers and bent his head so the fall of his
mane hid his feline eyes. He pushed his anger back. Giving in to it here was
unacceptable. Once colors replaced the grays, he strode to the desk. The woman
there was a different one from last night but she had kind eyes and lines
wrinkling her face. Hopefully she could help him.

“I’m looking for a woman. Blonde, beautiful, gorgeous gray
eyes. About this tall.” He motioned to his chest.

The clerk nodded. “Yep, she was here a little while ago.
Thought I was going to have to call security.”

“Excuse me?”

“One of the other customers was giving her a hard time but
her boyfriend showed up and the two of them left. Nice-looking man. Seemed very
protective too. Not many young boys these days are.” She gave a little shake of
her head. “Shame really. In my day—”

He snapped his teeth together. “Thank you,” he said and
walked away.

He strode across the room and out the door. The phone in his
pocket vibrated. A quick look at the display showed Devin’s number.

Megan.
The pain in his chest increased.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I thought something
might’ve happened to you.”

“Something has. I lost my female.”
To a human.

A long pause filled the line. Finally, Devin cleared his
throat. “Well, I found her. She and the human, Josh, just picked up Megan and
are heading toward her house. What do you want me to do with her?”

“Stop them,” he grunted. His guttural voice betrayed his
loss of control. Thankfully there weren’t any humans close by.

“You sure that’s wise? Megan might freak. She hasn’t been
around adult shifters in years, if ever.”

As much as he wanted Devin to intervene and get Jasmine away
from his rival, he couldn’t, not if it stressed a child. There was no reason
beyond his own jealousy to justify it.

“You’re right. Follow, keep them safe. I’m headed out there.”

And when he got his female back, he was going to make sure
she knew to whom she belonged and that leaving him was no longer an option.

* * * * *

Jazz stared out the window at the passing landscape without
seeing it. It had started raining so the rhythmic swoosh of the wipers and
splatter of rain were the only sounds. Megan slept in the backseat and Josh was
lost to his own thoughts. He’d barely said a word to her since they’d picked up
Megan. That left her with plenty of time to think. The more she did, the more
she wondered if she hadn’t jumped to the wrong conclusions.

She’d called Mr. Wilkins and he’d assured her they were
safe. He didn’t know why Seth and Levi were frightened, only that they were
locked away in one of the bedrooms. He’d said Kade had introduced himself,
apologized for frightening the dogs then taken up a spot on the porch. He hadn’t
even asked to come inside. And Josh said nobody had bothered them last night or
this morning.

She blew out a breath. Forced her fingers to unclench. She’d
overreacted. Learning Rafe was a shifter had freaked her out, made her fear the
worst. Now that she had time to think about it, she could understand why he
hadn’t told her the truth—he probably feared she’d react just as she had.
Irrationally.

She pressed against the ache in her chest that had grown
since she’d walked away from the hotel. It was silly to miss Rafe. Less than an
hour had passed since she’d left him. But she did.

Had he discovered her gone yet? There was a chance he was
still asleep. He had looked tired. Sated.
Damn, damn, damn.
She had to
stop picturing him naked in bed. Or think about how it’d felt to have him
packed deep inside her. She’d met him two days ago and one night of sex shouldn’t
have this kind of effect on her.

But it did. She missed him and regretted jumping to
conclusions and leaving him. Besides, they had a lot to discuss. Last night.
Her kids. The little detail of his nonhuman status. Why he was really here.

She bit her lip and glanced at Josh. “Can I borrow your
phone?”

He pulled it out. “Sure. Why?”

“I’m going to call the hotel and see if Rafe is still there.
I want to talk to him.”

She reached for the phone. He pulled it back.

“No. That’s not happening.”

She took in the hard stamp of determination tightening his
features. She sighed and admitted, “I think I overreacted.”

“No. You did the right thing.” He slid the phone back into
his pocket.

“I freaked out when I realized he was a shifter and
automatically assumed he was like the hyenas that had tried to hurt Seth and
Levi.”

He flicked his gaze to her. “Hyenas? What are you talking
about?”

She pointed to the road. It was raining too hard not to pay
complete attention to his driving. He faced forward.

“They’re the ones associated with the trafficking rings I
told you about.” She worried her lower lip and thought about Calum and how he’d
sold his and Nina’s little girls, and added, “Or at least they’re the only ones
I ever ran into.”

“God, Jazz, I wish I’d known. That’s harassment. We could’ve
gotten the cops involved and—”

“And alerted others to the fact my kids aren’t human?” She
shook her head. “Shifters don’t play by the same rules we do, Josh. Hate to be
the one to break it to you but you’re a part of a whole different world.
Sometimes it’s kill or be killed.”

Josh slowly turned his head. “Are telling me what I think
you are?”

The weight of her actions sat on her shoulders. She nodded,
couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“Dammit, Jazz, you should’ve trusted me.” He glanced to the
road, then back to her. “I could’ve—”

Eyes wide, she pointed at the lion in the road up ahead. Josh
cursed and swung the wheel to avoid it. They drove around the animal. The lion’s
eyes—glowing brown—locked on to hers as they passed but it didn’t move or
follow them. She watched it in the side mirror until the road curved and
blocked him from view.

Heart pounding hard against her ribs, she muttered, “Hurry,
Josh.”

Josh ran a hand through his hair and cursed some more. The
car picked up speed. The rain fell harder. Josh flicked the knob to turn the
wipers on to the next speed. They whooshed faster but didn’t do much to clear
the pounding rain. Lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled. She jumped.

The groping man’s face from the hotel filled her vision.
Brown eyes. Cold. Exactly how a predator’s eyes would be. Her breaths came
quicker. A whimper escaped. It was him. She knew it.

“Uncle Josh? What’s wrong?” Megan’s sleepy voice came from
the backseat.

Jazz turned in her seat and reached a hand behind her to rub
Megan’s leg. “It’s okay, kiddo,” she soothed.

Megan nodded, accepting the calming words, but they did nothing
to ease Jazz’s panic. She couldn’t stop the fear tightening her chest. She
glanced from Megan to Josh. She couldn’t breathe.

Josh took the next bend in the road too fast. The car
hydroplaned into the other lane. Megan screamed and Jazz grabbed the door
handle but Josh eased up on the gas, got the car back under control.

“Slow down,” she said.

“No. That guy showed himself for one reason—to warn us. He’s
either following us or knows where we’re going. Either way, time’s against us.”

“What if he already has Seth and Levi?”

Josh started to curse but clamped his jaw shut before the
four-letter word came out. “Call the house.” He shifted in his seat and pulled
out his phone.

She took it and dialed but Megan’s scream filled the closed
car. Josh slammed on the brakes and Jazz flicked her gaze up. The sight of the
uprooted tree blocking the road filled her vision. The car jerked. The world
spun. The forest, the road behind them. Screeching tires and the sound of
branches scratching along the doors mixed with Megan’s cries. The car hit
something. Her head flew forward then back to smack against the headrest. The
airbags deployed. Dust and gas filled the air.

Silence stretched for a brief moment before Megan’s sobs
started. Jazz cringed at the sharp pain in her neck but reached for her
seatbelt. She fumbled with the button, groaned when it wouldn’t work. She
pushed the release again. It popped free and she leaned between the front
seats. Megan had her stuffed lion clutched to her chest and tears filled her
frightened eyes.

“Are you okay, sweetie?”

Megan nodded but her eyes widened. Her small hand lifted and
pointed. Jazz followed the direction and sucked in a breath. A lion with a dark
tan mane watched them. He lay crouched next to a hole in the ground. Broken
pieces of tree root stuck through the dirt. The tree that had once stood there
was stretched over the road. Jazz swept her gaze over the area. Their car was a
few dozen feet inside the woods and the lion sat between them and freedom.

“Oh god.” Jazz reached for Josh. She shook his shoulder. “Josh?”

When he didn’t respond, she glanced at him. His eyes were
closed. Blood trickled from a cut on his forehead. Panic rose. Jazz looked from
an unconscious Josh to the lion advancing in a slow, crouching crawl. She hit
the button to lock the doors but they didn’t work. The engine was dead, smoke
billowing from it.

She bent down and fumbled for the phone she’d dropped. It
wasn’t anywhere she could see. She reached farther under the seat, touched the
edge of the rubber case and wrapped her fingers around it. Something slammed
into her door. She jumped up and the phone slipped out of her hand. A lion
bared fangs inches from her face. Only the window separated them. She jerked
away and pressed her back against Josh’s slumped form.

The muffled sounds of screeching tires reached her. The lion
whipped his head in the direction of the road then hissed. He turned back and
snarled at her before taking off. She looked to see what had frightened him and
saw a man running toward their car. His hair was brown, not the patchwork
multicolor dye job, but his face matched the man on Rafe’s phone. He stopped a
few feet away, hands clenching and releasing at his sides, and chest heaving.
He glanced from them to the woods.

After a moment, he lifted his lips, revealing a set of
fangs. He swept his gaze over the area before making his way to the car. Jazz
stared at the fangs denting his lower lip. He was a shifter. Like the lion he’d
chased off. Like her kids and Megan. Like Rafe.

“Jazz, I’m scared,” Megan cried.

So was she, but she grabbed Megan’s hand and squeezed. “It’s
okay, honey. He’s one of the good guys.” She hoped.

“How do you know?”

Jazz watched the man’s slow, cautious approach. He moved
with his hands held up and out to the side. It was an attempt to show he wasn’t
a threat but it was a lie. With a thought, he could sprout claws and fur, but
he hadn’t done anything threatening so far. He’d scared off the other shifter
and now sought to calm them. And he was Rafe’s friend.

“I know his friend and I…I trust him.”

Josh groaned and reached for her. “Jasmine? Megan?”

She grabbed his hand and forced her gaze from the
approaching man. Josh’s unfocused eyes met hers. “I’m here. So is Megan. We’re
both fine.”

“Thank god,” he grumbled as he sat up. He shook his head,
blinking hard, but leaned forward to peer out the windshield. “Son of a—”

She grabbed his arm to stop him from opening the door. “Wait.
He’s Rafe’s friend.” He turned questioning eyes to her. “I saw his picture on
Rafe’s phone. He just chased off the lion we saw in the road.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. We don’t know Rafe’s story. I
don’t trust him and I sure as hell don’t trust his friends.” He popped the
seatbelt, tried the door. When it didn’t open, he threw a shoulder into it.

Jazz hooked her fingers around his waistband as he climbed
out. She tugged and he looked over his shoulder. “I do, Josh. I don’t know what’s
going on but I trust him, should never have left him.”