“I choose him,” she interrupted. “If Hiss stays in a cage, then I will stay with him.”
Those gold eyes flashed with curiosity. “You are very stubborn.”
“You have no idea.”
“Hiss told you he was a traitor. Did he tell you what he did? How the lives of his family, and by that I mean the Pantera, were put in danger? We lost a life, Gia.”
“I’m very sorry for that.” She wouldn’t make excuses for him. She didn’t need to. Hiss was well aware of what he’d done. He lived with it every second of every day. “But he also saved a life,” she added.
“Whose?” Raphael sneered.
“Mine.”
His mouth opened, but he said nothing.
“And he could save many more, we both could, if you’d act on the information we’ve brought you.” She sighed. “Think about it for one second, Leader of the Pantera. He came back here. Knowing the risks, knowing his certain fate, so he could save not only my life but everyone in that building in Baton Rogue. You want to know my first thought when we escaped? Getting home. Getting to my family. Now.” She went to the door and opened it. “I want to see my mate.”
For a solid minute, Raphael digested what she’d said to him. Tension flickered in the air around them. But finally, he nodded. “Very well, Gia of the Cadejo. Follow me.” He stood up, shifted into his cat and growled at her to follow him.
CHAPTER 5
In a conference room on the top floor of the Suits’ Headquarters, the Hunters—Hiss’s once-upon-a-time Hunters—surrounded him a tight semi-circle. Not to reminisce or to chastise him. But to get their questions answered. How long had he been at the lab? Were there any other Wildlands Pantera there? What seemed to be their goal? How many floors were there? How many guards? Had he ever heard the name Christopher? Why did they want his blood?
As he answered, his gaze moved over each one in turn. Parish, Keira, Mal, Bayon and Lena. They had been his friends once upon a time. Ran side by side with his puma. They’d trusted him with their lives. And he could see it in their eyes. That trust was gone.
“Mal, draw us up a map,” Parish commanded. “We’ll meet to strategize at midnight. Let’s hope the building’s not already burned to the ground like the rest of Stanton’s properties by the time we get there.”
“It won’t be,” Hiss assured him.
“How can you be so sure?” Bayon put in. “It’s how he rolls.”
“Yes,” Mal agreed. “But remember what the human, Chelsea, has told us. Stanton Locke had one last big lab left in the South. He wouldn’t tell her or anyone else where it was because they couldn’t spare it. I don’t think they’d risk burning it down over a couple of test subjects going missing.”
“Agreed,” Hiss said, easily falling into his old way of talking to his peers. That is, until both Lena and Parish tossed him a vile sneer.
Mal, who had once been a great friend of his, asked, “And you say they know we’re coming, Hiss? The prisoners?”
He nodded, his chest tight when she refused to look him directly in his eyes. “I gave one of them, Blade is his name, the keys. Told him to make sure all cages were unlocked tonight.”
“Blade?” came a new voice to the fold.
Hiss glanced up. Raphael was standing inside the doorway, and just behind him was Gia. A wave of relief spilled through him when she gave him a reassuring smile.
“You know him, Raph?” Parish asked.
“He’s a Pantera Suit. Worked undercover out of New York, Boston and Florida.” The male looked pained. “We need to get them out of there.”
The leader of the Hunters turned back to Hiss. “How many cats on the lowest level?”
“Twelve.”
“Plus how many on the higher floors?”
Hiss shook his head. “I could only guesstimate. Twenty, thirty? Children and human prisoners too.”
Keira inhaled sharply. “Those soulless fuckers.”
“We’ll make sure they pay, sis,” Parish assured his twin.
“What will we do with them?” Lena asked. “When we bring them back here? Where will we put them?”
“Indy has plans for housing along the eastern border,” Raphael answered. “But in the meantime, we’ll use Medical, here, boarding, spare rooms, whatever’s available.”
The Hunters nodded in unison.
“I think that’s all for now,” Parish said. “The rest of you can go.” His gaze slid to Hiss. “I’ll make sure the prisoner gets to his cell. The elders have already been notified of his capture.”
It was the first time Hiss had allowed a growl to escape his lips since he’d been back. But it brought the attention of all the Hunters. Bayon started toward him, but only managed a few steps before Gia pushed past Raphael and came to stand at Hiss’s side.
Her chin lifted, she grabbed his hand. “We’re ready.”
***
“Not exactly the cages we’re used to, is it?” Gia remarked as they stood in the living room of the small but well-appointed cottage at the foot of the bayou.
“This isn’t for me,” Hiss said tightly.
“What do you mean?” She turned around to look at him. He’d changed into a pair of navy sweats and a matching t-shirt. It seemed strange to see him in clothes. But they fit very well, stretching over and across his lean, muscular body.
His eyes caught and held hers. “Raphael wants to make sure that when you return home you report only positive treatment by the Pantera. He is a Diplomat, after all.”
When we return home? she wanted to suggest. But she kept the thought to herself. Hiss would love the Wetlands. And he would be free of censure there. They could start over… Hell, they could just start.
“But make no mistake,” he continued. “It may feel calm and comfortable and hidden here, but there are guards all around us.”
She sobered somewhat, walked over to him. “What is their plan for you, do you think? A trial? Captivity? Will you be drugged so that your cat cannot emerge?” She shivered at that last question. She couldn’t imagine never being able to shift. It had been hell over the past several months. Not being able to connect with her cat.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said. “Whatever it is, I deserve it. I accept it.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, looked up at him. “Tell me. Tell me why you did what you did.”
He stared down at her. “Does it matter?”
“Not with regard to how I feel about you. But I want to know. I want to know you. Your heart, your pain. You barely shared that side of yourself with me.”
“It’s an ugly side.”
She sniffed. “Baby, we all have those. And anyone who says differently is a liar.” She snuggled into his chest. Being in his arms, this close to him without bars in their way, was pure heaven. “I just don’t want us to have any secrets. It won’t work if we do.”
“What won’t work?” he asked, his lips against her hair.
“Our mating.”
He stilled.
She smiled. “I want to mate you, Hiss.”
A growl rumbled through him. She felt it against her chest, against the tips of her breasts, and it made her belly clench deliciously.
“And as you know,” she continued, lifting her head, “if I want something badly enough I get it.”
His eyes were a rich smoky gray. They clung to hers and his nostrils flared. He was drawing her scent.
“Kiss me,” she urged. “You want to, don’t you?”
His gaze dropped to her mouth and a soft snarl escaped his lips. “Oh, Gia, I’ve wanted to since that first night. But…”
“No buts,” she said, heat flickering between their tightly pressed bodies. “Look where we are. How we are. I’m holding you, you’re holding me. No bars between us, no nightmares, no—”
Hiss’s mouth was on hers before she could get that last word out. And as he kissed her with feral hunger and unbridled passion, life outside the cottage, outside the circle that their b
odies made, didn’t exist. It was only heat and moans, skin and friction. Gia was overcome, overwhelmed. She wanted to both consume him and be consumed by him. And yet, she couldn’t decide which she wanted first. Her mind was butterflies on the bayou, flitting and floating, while her back arched and her hips pressed against the rigid arousal in his sweats.
Never in her life had she been kissed this way. All in, all consuming, starving. Like neither of them had eaten in weeks. Not the kind of food that would sustain them, anyway. Bland, boring, barely edible. This was the highly spiced, gourmet fare, addictive as hell.
She moaned and dipped her tongue into his mouth to play and lap, laughing when he slammed her tighter against him in response. Crushing her sensitive breasts against his hard chest. Every inch of her was hot and humming, and between her thighs she felt slick.
He pulled back and bit her lower lip. “Your scent is making me insane, Gia.”
“More,” was her response, growling against his mouth. “You. Naked. Me. Too.”
He cursed, picking her up easily and stalking toward the couch. Anticipation filled her. She reached down and grabbed the edges of his shirt. Off. She needed it off. That’s how he was supposed to be. Gloriously naked.
And aroused.
Goddess, she couldn’t wait to see it. His cock, standing proud. Wanting her. Waiting to fill her.
She felt herself falling, and for a second her panic response kicked in. But Hiss had her, eased her down until her back was touching soft, pliant cushion.
“You sure about this?” he asked, poised above her, his expression a mask of ferocious hunger.
Her sex tingled, hummed, craved. “You’re kidding, right?”
A cocky grin touched his mouth. She wanted to bite that mouth. And she would. Later.
“How the fuck did I get so lucky?” he uttered, pulling off his shirt. “Best day of my life when I was put in the Sub next to you.”
“Don’t,” she begged. “Don’t go there.”
“You changed me, Gia. Humbled me. I thought I was the only one suffering…” He yanked off his shirt, tossed it away.
Yes. Yes. That. Me. You.
So insanely aroused, so insanely desperate for him to stop talking and claim her mouth again as he claimed her body, she hardly heard the knock on the door.
But Hiss heard it.
He was up and off her, and changing into his cat in seconds. It was the first time Gia had seen him shift, and for a moment, she just stared at the auburn puma. It was massive, intimidating, its shoulders nearly as wide as the door he was heading for.
“Wait,” she called.
He stopped and glanced back. Silver eyes bore a hole in her head before he snarled. Stay back, he seemed to be saying. And Gia’s insides liquefied once again. She was female. He was male.
The knock came again, and Hiss’s cat growled and returned to its task, stalking to the door. Once there, his mouth closed around the knob, and he turned his head. With a snarl, he pulled back the door.
A stunning dark-haired female stood there, dressed in a black tank top and tight-fitting blue jeans. The second she saw Hiss’s cat, her face lit up.
“Hiss.”
Gia watched as he quickly shifted back into his male form. He stared at the female. “Oh, Goddess. Reny.”
She didn’t say a word. Just launched herself at him. Arms going around his neck, a sound of pure pleasure exiting her mouth.
That’s when Gia stood up. And for the first time in six months, her cat came out to play.
CHAPTER 6
It had taken him time, patience and quite a bit of brawn to calm down his sexy little puma, get her to shift back and listen to him. But when he did, and when she realized that the female standing in their doorway was his sister, Gia had reacted as only Gia could: with a hug for Reny, an apology, and a push for them to go out on the porch and have some alone time together while she took a well-deserved shower.
The visual had been difficult for Hiss to walk away from. But in truth, this was the first time he and Reny had met on an even playing field, so to speak. The last time he’d seen her, spoken to her, he’d been imprisoned on the island of lost Pantera. And by lost, he meant the small cabin where uncontrolled cats and traitors to their kind were sent. He hadn’t been very kind or welcoming to Reny then. Anger and bitterness and resentment did that to a body. So did shock—as he wasn’t expecting to hear that his sister, who he’d mourned for too many years to count—was alive. But he was a different male now, and he was so grateful to see her. Who knew when that would happen again?
If it would happen again.
His gaze traveled over her face, seeking to find resemblances and memories. Those intelligent green eyes had belonged to their father. And the wicked smile that lit up her entire face mirrored his own…well, once upon a time anyway. When he’d felt the carefree puma, the purposeful Hunter, the steadfast friend.
“You know I was warned off seeing you,” she said. They were seated on the steps of the porch, the sun gently setting in shades of peach and copper. “Sebastian was afraid you’d hurt me.”
Hiss released a soft growl. He hated to think she would ever believe him capable of such a thing.
“He didn’t mean physically,” she clarified. “Break my heart kind of thing.” She smiled that smile. The wicked, teasing one. “I don’t think he understands how important you are to me. How this connection is vital to my happiness. It’s family.” She glanced out at the water. “When you were gone, taken, and I thought I’d never see you again, I felt such grief.”
Hiss’s chest tightened, and he reached out and covered her hand with his. He hated that she felt pain, but he was also pleased that she valued him at all.
“When I heard you’d come back,” she said, looking at him again, “the happiness I felt, the relief…it was palpable. But I have to say, I’m still pretty shocked that you did. After everything…”
“Yeah,” he said with a wry grin. “You’re not the only one who feels that way. Now the Pantera think I’m a fool as well as a traitor.”
“They don’t know what to think,” she said. “After all that’s happened, your anger at the elders, working with Shakpi’s followers, being taken captive, saving that female’s life—and returning here, to certain imprisonment, to save the lives of those captives… It’s hard to make a judgment with so many factors at play.”
He could tell she was looking for answers, an explanation for the mercurial range of behaviors. He released her hand, but not her gaze. “Losing you, losing the family in that way, so young…” he started. “It nearly destroyed me. I was alone. To think and grow bitter, and blame. Do you know what the elders told me?”
She shook her head.
“That you and Mom and Dad had been exposed as shifters to the human world, and were in danger. But instead of sending help, bringing you home to me, they left you to fend for yourselves. Not wanting to expose the Pantera any further. They told me you’d been killed. A fire.”
Her eyes shuttered. “Maybe that’s what they believed?” she offered. “Maybe that’s what they’d been told. I don’t excuse their callous way of dealing with the fears of having the Pantera exposed. That is truly heartless, and they should admit to it. But maybe that’s not why Mom and Dad died. Maybe the fire was just—”
“No.” His one-word interruption caused her to startle.
“You don’t think their death was an accident?”
Hiss stared at her, debating. He could hardly tell her that he believed he’d seen their mother, been cared for in the lab by her. Without proof, he’d sound insane.
“Truly, I don’t know what happened to them,” he said finally. “But I know the elders sent no one to help. Them or you.” He shook his head, cursed. “You might not have been exposed to years of abuse and torture if they… Goddess help me, Reny, I had weeks of that and my head’s not on straight. I doubt it ever will be. I don’t know how you…”
“I’m okay, Hiss,” she assured him wi
th such vehemence that he couldn’t not believe it was true. “When it came back, all the memories, it was difficult for sure. I still dream about it, still wake up wondering where I am. But I manage. And Sebastian, my mate, he makes me feel so safe. So loved.” Her eyes warmed. “Is that how you feel with Gia?”
Just the sound of her name made his breath stall in his lungs and his pulse jump. He glanced over his shoulder at the screen door. “When I no longer cared if I breathed another day in that hole in the lab, Gia made me want to live again. She made me believe I could be better, different. Useful. Forgiven. With all I’ve done, what I’ve destroyed, I don’t deserve her, and yet I strive to.”
His sister’s eyes moved over his face. “I hate that the elders turned their back on our family. Failed our family. But as you and I know all too well, bad things happen. Choices are made for reasons that seem just, yet are petty and selfish, even cruel. On all sides,” she said pointedly. She exhaled heavily. “I don’t know, brother. Maybe I’m just saying…stop. Let it go. Ask for forgiveness, accept it if it’s granted and live the best life you can now. Because I want to know you. I want my children, if I’m ever that lucky, to know you.”
His gut was aching something fierce. So much pain, that he’d endured—and that he’d caused. “I want that too,” he uttered. “It’s why I’m here. Why I came back.”
A smile touched her lips. It was like looking in the mirror for a moment. “I’ve found you again, brother, and I’m so grateful.”
“As am I, sister,” he said, moving closer to her, dropping an arm across her shoulders.
She let her head fall to his, and for a good half hour they sat there in companionable silence, watching the sun descend into the bayou.
***
Gia hadn’t seen a real bed with clean sheets and a warm comforter in months. So after her shower, she’d decided to stretch out and relax for a few minutes while Hiss and his sister reconnected outside. Not surprisingly though, that stretch had extended to sliding underneath the covers. And the relax bit? Well, that had morphed into a good old-fashioned catnap.